Guru Dutt Legacy

Legacy

Guru Dutt in Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam
Guru Dutt was at first mourned as a matinee idol but as the years passed, it became ever clearer that it was as a director that he would be remembered. Starting in 1973, his films were shown at film festivals throughout India and the rest of the world. Despite being a commercial director, he appealed to the same intelligentsia who made Satyajit Ray an international favorite. He also has a place in the hearts of many ordinary Indians for his song picturisations and the many vivid characters sketched in his films.
Contrary to general belief about commercial viability of Guru Dutt's film projects, he more or less gave commercially successful films.Down the years his commercial projects saw trade-off with creative aspirations. Movies like C.I.D., Baazi, Pyaasa, Kaagaz Ke Phool Chaudhvin Ka Chand and Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam were in their rights the first in Hindi cinema. The only movie produced by Guru Dutt and termed box-office disaster was, and which is now a cult classic Kaagaz Ke Phool. He lost over 17 Lacs producing that movie, a large amount by 1960s standard, which was more than recovered by his next project Chaudhavin Ka Chand. He never lost faith of his team, and distributors of his films. Once a project was over, he'd begin new - with little to worry over commercial success of the previous project. He is a part of the exclusive school of Indian cinema - the likes of Raj Kapoor, Mehboob Khan and Bimal Roy, which were always a healthy blend of artistic and commercial elements between the mid-1950s and mid-1960s.
Pyaasa was rated as one of the best 100 films of all time by Time Magazine.In the 2002 Sight & Sound critics' and directors' poll, two of his films, Pyaasa and Kaagaz Ke Phool, were among the top 160 greatest films of all time.The same 2002 Sight & Sound poll ranked Dutt at #73 in its list of all-time greatest directors, thus making him the eighth highest-ranking Asian filmmaker in the poll.