{"id":2541,"date":"2015-12-31T16:49:06","date_gmt":"2015-12-31T11:19:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/?p=2541"},"modified":"2019-01-22T12:41:45","modified_gmt":"2019-01-22T07:11:45","slug":"guide-1965","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/guide-1965\/","title":{"rendered":"Guide: The Story of Ordinary People Leading Extraordinary Lives"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The

This poster of Guide<\/em> was priced at more than one lakh rupees. (Pic courtesy: Collections of SMM Ausaja)<\/p><\/div>\n

The story of Guide<\/em> is set in a non-descript small town with some archaic unexplored ruins which brings together three very different kinds of people \u2013 an eccentric archaeologist Marco who cannot look beyond his work, his beautiful but frustrated wife Rosie who is trapped in a loveless marriage and is forced to suppress her passion to dance and an enterprising tourist guide Raju, who starts off as Marco\u2019s key to exploring the pre-historic caves and ends up as Rosie\u2019s friend, confidante and \u201cguide\u201d.<\/p>\n

Guide<\/em> is a path breaker in more ways than one. It is a film adapted from an English novel The Guide<\/em> written by R K Narayan. Hindi films in the fifties and sixties were usually based on film scripts or stories adapted from Hindi, Bengali or Marathi literature.<\/p>\n

Guide<\/em> dealt with a story that treads into taboo territory of extra-marital relationship. Rosie\u2019s walking out of her marriage and bonding with an ordinary guide to pursue a career in dance went headlong against accepted social codes. It threw the spotlight on a woman\u2019s struggle to break out on her own and give wings to her dreams \u2013 at a time when no one had heard of \u2018empowered women\u2019.<\/p>\n

The novel\u2019s cinematic appeal had caught the notice of film maestro Satyajit Ray as well. During the making of Abhijan<\/em>, he had expressed an interest in adapting the novel to the Abhijan<\/em>\u2019s female lead Waheeda Rehman<\/a>, who is also an expert dancer. \u201cHe told me if the film ever took off he would cast me as Rosie,\u201d Waheeda Rehman told Nasreen Munni Kabir during her interviews for the book Conversations with Waheeda Rehman<\/em>. A couple of years later Waheeda Rehman was approached again with the same role, this time by Dev Anand. \u201cSatyajit Ray would have conceived the film in a completely different way. But I believe I was fated to play Rosie, no matter who was going to direct the film,\u201d Waheeda said.<\/p>\n

\"guide\"

Rosie\u2019s walking out of her marriage and bonding with an ordinary guide to pursue a career in dance went headlong against accepted social codes.<\/p><\/div>\n

Guide<\/em> is remarkable not only for its innovative and courageous theme content; it is also the first film to have a bilingual Hindi and English production. Raj Khosla, the original choice for director was replaced by Chetan Anand for the Hindi version while American director Tad Danielewski was given the charge of the English version.<\/p>\n

Persistent disagreements between the two directors forced producer Dev Anand<\/a> to decide on making the English version first. Nobel prize-winning novelist Pearl S Buck wrote the screenplay (the only screenplay she ever wrote) and specifically asked Waheeda to speak English in her natural accent, not with a fake American accent since the story was Indian. Not surprisingly, Waheeda Rehman picked up the award for best actress for the English version at the Chicago Film Festival in 1965. It is quite another story that the makers of the film never told her about it and she came to know only when Filmfare<\/em> editor B K Karanjia showed her an article in Variety<\/em> and later a crew member “stole the certificate and sent it” to her! (source: Conversations with Waheeda Rehman<\/a>, Page #121) <\/em><\/p>\n

For the Hindi version, Dev Anand finally gave the megaphone to Vijay Anand. The result? Guide<\/em> was a box-office success with its music breaking all records. It achieved a rare feat of ALL of its songs becoming top chart busters. And it was not just a question of great film music. For legendary music composer S D Burman<\/a> it was a question of creating compositions that set benchmarks in innovation.<\/p>\n

Kaanton se kheenchke yeh aanchal<\/strong><\/em> ~ Lata Mangeshkar<\/span><\/p>\n