Synopsis
Vijay
(Guru Dutt) is an unsuccessful poet whose works are not taken
seriously by publishers or his brothers who sell his poems
as waste paper. Unable to bear their taunting at him being
a good for nothing, he stays away from home often out on the
streets. He encounters a prostitute on the streets Gulabo
(Waheeda Rehman), enamoured of his poetry and who falls in
love with him. He also encounters his ex-girlfriend Meena
(Mala Sinha) from college and finds out that she is married
to a big publisher Mr. Ghosh (Rehman) for financial security
who hires him as a servant to find out more about him and
Meena. A dead beggar to whom Vijay gave his coat and whom
he tries to save unsuccessfully from the path of a running
train is mistaken for Vijay. Gulabo goes to Ghosh and gets
his poems published. Ghosh does so feeling he can exploit
the poems and make a killing. But Vijay is alive and in hospital
after the train mishap. Ghosh and Shyam, Vijay's close friend,
refuse to recognise him and he is committed to a mental asylum
since he insisits he is Vijay and is thought to be mad. Vijay's
brothers too are bought off by Ghosh not to recognize him
and a memorial is held for the dead poet. Vijay with the help
of his friend Abdul Sattar (Johhnny Walker) escapes from the
mental asylum and reaches the memorial service where he denounces
this corrupt and materialistic world. Seeing that Vijay is
alive his friend and brothers take side with a rival publisher
for more money and declare this is Vijay. At a function to
honour him, Vijay sick of all the hypocrisy in the world around
him declares he is not Vijay and leaves with Gulabo to start
a new life.
The film
Pyaasa is Guru
Dutt's real masterpiece. It tells of
the thirst for love, for recognition, for
spiritual fulfilment. There is a strong
parallel between the hero, a poet, the outsider
trying to make a place for himself in the
society he inhabits and the director, the
outsider, trying to leave his independent
stamp in a world of formulaic cinema. It
is in Pyaasa where we really see
Guru Dutt transcend way above the ordinary
and succeed in totality. Many individual
shots and scenes become impressionistic
images telling of his lyricism. An example
which immediately comes to mind is the song
Aaj Sajan Mohe Ang Lagalo. It is
a kirtan - a Bengali devotional song telling
of longing and desire. Though we see baul
singers perform the song, it in fact voices
the prostitute's passion for the poet. She
follows the poet up the stairs to the terrace
where he stands his back to her. She moves
towards him but cannot bring herself to
touch him and she runs away. The earthly
love she feels is uplifted and given a spiritual
dimension through the words. And this is
further reinforced by the amazing rendering
of the song by Geeta
Dutt. In the last scene of the film,
an instrumental version of the song is played
as the prostitute overcome with joy at seeing
the poet at her doorway runs down the steps
of her house into his arms. They are one.
What is most interesting to note in their
relationship is that the prostitute shares
with the poet a greater attraction for spiritual
fulfilment rather than materialistic fulfilment.
 In many
of Guru Dutt's films we see him caught between
two women - Aar Paar (1954),
Kaagaz ke
Phool (1959) and Sahib Bibi aur Ghulam
(1962). In Pyaasa too there is
another woman, his ex-girlfriend from college
who leaves him and marries for security.
Her priority is clearly materialistic fulfilment.
In fact though having negative shades to
it, this is actually the more difficult
and challenging role in the film as against
the standard prostitute with a heart of
gold. The role has its shades of grey and
counts as one of actress Mala Sinha's better
performances, otherwise a rather mechanical
and melodramatic performer. Talking of the
acting, Waheeda Rehman
is outstanding in the role of the prostitute
and Guru Dutt himself is fine in the role
of the poet. Perhaps the parallels between
him and the character help him in coming
out with his best ever screen performance.
Interestingly,
Pyaasa has that rare element in a
Guru Dutt film. A song treated like a fantasy.
An idyllic daydream of the hero. The song
Hum Aapki Aankhon Mein is picturised
amongst clouds as the heroine descends from
the moon. It sticks out when viewed against
the whole film. Perhaps Guru Dutt picturised
it in such a manner just to get back at
the distributors who felt that an 'item'
was needed! So he provided them with one!
The
music by S.D.
Burman is extraordinary as is the rendering
of the songs. The background music helps
to create the necessary atmosphere for a
number of individual scenes. The Mala Sinha
character has her own signature tune - a
simple yet haunting melody played on the
harmonica. Whenever the poet sees her, the
tune is repeated representing for him the
love he has lost.
But
if one person is the soul of Pyaasa
it is lyricist Sahir
Ludhianvi on whose poems the lyrics
were based. Sahir's words seem to articulate
Guru Dutt's own view of the world and experience
of tragedy. Pyaasa sees some of Sahir's
best work. Yeh Mehlon Yeh Thakhton,
Jaane Woh Kaise Log The Jinke and
Jinhe Naaz Hai Hind Par Woh Kahaan Hai
- the last looking at the disillusionment
that had set in a decade after the giddy
euphoria of Indian Independence. It was
taken from his poem Chakle (Brothels).
A fine example of political comment combined
with humanitarian compassion.
To
sum it up simply, a classic! Need one say
more?!
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