{"id":9933,"date":"2025-07-09T06:53:33","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T01:23:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/?p=9933"},"modified":"2025-07-09T07:35:25","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T02:05:25","slug":"baazi-thank-you-guru-dutt-book-excerpt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/baazi-thank-you-guru-dutt-book-excerpt\/","title":{"rendered":"Baazi \u2013 ‘Thank You, Guru Dutt!’ Book Excerpt"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Navketan's

Baazi<\/em> poster<\/p><\/div>\n

Date of release:<\/strong> June 15, 1951
\nBanner:<\/strong> Navketan
\nProducer:<\/strong> Dev Anand
\nDirector:<\/strong> Guru Dutt (Assistants Raj Khosla and CM Nagotra)
\nStory:<\/strong> Guru Dutt and Balraj Sahni
\nScreenplay and Dialogues:<\/strong> Balraj Sahni
\nDirector of Photography:<\/strong> V Ratra (Assistant VK Murthy)
\nChoreographer:<\/strong> Zohra Sehgal
\nEditor:<\/strong> YG Chawhan
\nCast:<\/strong> Dev Anand, Geeta Bali, Kalpana Kartik, Roopa Varman, KN Singh, Johnny Walker, Rashid Khan, Krishan Dhawan and others
\nMusic Director:<\/strong> SD Burman
\nMusic Assistant:<\/strong> Suhrid Kar
\nLyricist:<\/strong> Sahir Ludhianvi
\nSingers:<\/strong> Geeta Roy, Shamshad Begum, Kishore Kumar and the chorus<\/p>\n

Songs:<\/strong> Total 8 songs, all solos. Geeta Roy (Dutt)-6, Kishore Kumar-1, Shamshad Begum-1, the chorus-2<\/p>\n

1. Aaj ki raat piya<\/em>\u2014Geeta (Kalpana Kartik)
\n2. Dekh ke akeli mohe barkha sataaye<\/em>\u2014Geeta and chorus (Geeta Bali)
\n3. Laakh zamaane waale<\/em>\u2014Geeta (Kalpana Kartik)
\n4. Mere labon pe dekho<\/em>\u2014Kishore (Dev Anand)
\n5. Sharmaaye kaahe ghabraaye kaahe<\/em>\u2014Shamshad (Geeta Bali)
\n6. Suno gajar kya gaaye<\/em>\u2014Geeta and chorus (Geeta Bali and dancers)
\n7. Tadbeer se bigdi hui<\/em>\u2014Geeta (Geeta Bali)
\n8. Ye kaun aaya ke<\/em>\u2014Geeta Roy (Kalpana Kartik)<\/p>\n

\"Dev

Dev Anand and Guru Dutt on the sets of Baazi<\/em> (Pic courtesy: Rediff)<\/p><\/div>\n

Like Alfred Hitchcock who used to be seen in his films for a few seconds, Guru Dutt makes his cameo appearance in the opening scene of the movie where he is shown seated by a roadside hydrant, with his back to the camera. He is seen smoking when an expensive car pulls up. We see his profile as he turns his face, and he seems puzzled to see a costly car stopping by in such a shady area. Suited and booted, the character actor Rashid Khan steps out of the back seat, carrying a walking stick. He advances purposefully towards Dutt, pauses to light a cigarette, then goes past him to descends a staircase. The camera turns around to watch the man go to the basement. No word has been said yet. That is how Dutt introduces suspense, from the very first scene! Again, in Jaal<\/em>, Guru Dutt would make a cameo appearance as a fisherman, in a blink-and-miss kind of role. Deeply influenced by Western cinema, this ambitious young man wanted to leave his signature on his films until he began to act in them as the protagonist.<\/p>\n

Released on June 15, 1951, the Navketan film Baazi<\/em> premiered at Swastik Cinema on Lamington Road in South Mumbai. Baazi<\/em>, in Urdu, means a gamble. At this time Guru Dutt was only 27 years old. The film was a success at the box office, it even celebrated its silver jubilee. Two of the main reasons for its success were the filming of the songs and the songs themselves.<\/p>\n

\"Raj

Raj Khosla and Krishna Dhawan in Baazi<\/em>. Khosla had started his career as an assistant to Guru Dutt in this film.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Betting Big!<\/strong><\/p>\n

The film established many people’s careers and lives. Although was not Sahir’s first film, it was in this film that his work was first acclaimed. Nor was this Johnny Walker’s first film since he had been doing bit parts as an extra earlier too. It was during the breaks of the film Hulchul<\/em> (released, like Baazi<\/em>, in 1951, but much earlier) that Balraj Sahni had noticed how Johnny Walker, then an extra, would entertain the crew with his drunken act. Sahni introduced him to Guru Dutt and the rest is history. Johnny Walker said, “Baazi<\/em> was the first film in which people noticed me. Before that whenever I’d take a friend to the cinema to see a film in which I had acted, I’d appear and then disappear before we knew what happened.” Similarly, Raj Khosla, who had always wanted to be a playback singer, was encouraged by Dev Anand to become an assistant director to Guru Dutt, after which there was no looking back for Khosla. In an interview Raj Khosla recalled, “Dev said to me, ‘Guru Dutt is going to direct my next picture, why don’t you become his assistant?’ So I met Guru Dutt!” Of course, Baazi<\/em> was Guru Dutt’s first directorial effort too, and one knows how the success of this film changed his life.<\/p>\n

\"Dev

Dev Anand’s look in Baazi<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

The plot of Baazi<\/em> centres on a risky gamble made by the protagonist played by Dev Anand. Behind the scenes, the film was a real-life gamble since two newcomers were placing bets on each other’s success. The risk taker that Dev Anand was, he handed over the director’s reins to Guru Dutt, who was still a fresher. Both of them were about to make a name for themselves.<\/p>\n

Baazi<\/em> also brought two beautiful and talented women into the lives of these two handsome bachelors. Geeta Roy who was already a singing sensation, was recording the song Tadbeer se bigdi hui taqdeer bana le<\/em> when Guru Dutt walked in, saw and heard her for the first time, and instantly fell in love with her. Meanwhile, Kalpana Kartik was introduced in this film. Dev Anand, nursing his tears after his breakup with Suraiya, turned to Kalpana on the rebound.<\/p>\n

The two couples later got married. So many life-changing bets were taken during the film whose subject was coincidentally, gambling Baazi<\/em> was the turning point in their lives, both professionally and personally. All four fell in love, got married and had children.<\/p>\n

Baazi<\/em> set the trend for other similar Bombay noir<\/em> crime thrillers. Some claim that the film was a copy of a Hollywood film called Gilda<\/em>, which starred Rita Hayworth as the irresistible seductive woman, with Glenn Ford playing the part of the man who reciprocated her love. When I watched the film on YouTube, I was struck more by the differences between the two films than their similarities. Yet, as one moves forward through Guru Dutt’s cinema, one observes that both Bengali and Hollywood cinema played a significant role in providing Guru Dutt with the impetus and inspiration he desired.<\/p>\n

The cinematography by V Ratra was adequately supported and assisted by VK Murthy. There were plenty of fascinating shots; some scenes, as with cinema noir<\/em>, were intentionally in half-light and half-darkness. Most films of the time did not have close-ups, but this film had plenty.<\/p>\n

Guru Dutt was quite nuanced in his presentations, and he employed symbols too. For example, a staircase would represent the descent of Man’s morality when he filmed villains descending a flight of stairs.<\/p>\n

Guru Dutt was ahead of his time in quite a few ways. For one thing, in this film, he gave Geeta Bali top billing, above Dev Anand. Then, as a film director, he would have different endings for his films, and later decide which one to finally okay for the film. Originally, Dev Anand shared in his Filmfare<\/em> interview, this film had two endings. One end had Dev Anand go to the gallows, and the other\u2014the one that Guru Dutt finally chose\u2014had the inspector slyly conning the villain into admitting his crime and making it easy for the hero.<\/p>\n

Coming to this film, the plot is unusual: for one, here the nautch girl is the heroine, and the good girl is the supporting actress. While the nautch girl dies, the good girl pairs up with the crooked gambler who has changed and gone legit. The vamp dies in the end, protecting the hero, a convenient narrative ploy which has been used time and again to get the shady lady out of the lives of decent, socially acceptable members of society. After all, the director needed to pay attention to the audience and its tastes, because it meant box office returns!<\/p>\n

\"Kalpana

Kalpana and Dev Anand in Baazi<\/em> (Pic: IMDb)<\/p><\/div>\n

The SD Burman Songs!<\/strong><\/p>\n

The songs of this romantic thriller became extremely popular, with Geeta Roy winning hearts with six solos, which included three songs sung onscreen by Kalpana Kartik (Dr Rajani). They included Laakh zamaane waale<\/em>, the romantic solo sung for an absent Dev Anand; Ye kaun aaya ke mere dil ki duniya mein bahaar aayi<\/em>, sung in a situation which was later repeated in a few films, where the heroine sings for one man but another man believes she is singing for him. In this case, she was singing for Madan (Dev Anand) while it was Ramesh (Krishan Dhawan) who was deluded. Such a situation became a hit with audiences, inspiring other directors to use it for their later films. For example, fourteen years later in 1965, in BR Chopra’s Waqt<\/em>, the song Kaun aaya ke nigaahon mein chamak jaag uthi<\/em>, is sung by Sadhana for Sunil Dutt while Raj Kumar believes she is singing for him. Again this situation inspired Guru Dutt for his last film where he created a similar song Aap ke haseen rukh pe<\/em> where Mala Sinha believes Dharmendra is wooing her but he is singing for her sister Tanuja! Coincidentally, in most of these songs, the triangular grand piano occupies centre stage as a symbol of the love triangle.<\/p>\n

Aaj ki raat piya<\/em> is a Geeta Roy seduction solo sung by Kalpana Kartik to a perplexed Dev Anand. Then there is Dekh ke akeli mohe barkha sataaye<\/em>, with Geeta Roy lip-synching for Nina (Geeta Bali) in a club.<\/p>\n

Aaj ki raat piya<\/strong><\/em> (Baazi<\/em>, 1951) SD Burman\/ Sahir \/ Geeta Dutt<\/span><\/p>\n