Guru Dutt: An Unfinished Story

by Yasser Usman

Guru Dutt’s filmography has some names which have long been considered as some of the best films to have ever been made in India. His masterpiece Pyaasa (1957) was featured in TIME magazine's All-Time 100 Movies list in 2005.
 
His films are still celebrated and revered by viewers, critics and students of cinema the world over, not only for their technical brilliance but also for the eternal romanticism and their profound take on the emptiness of life and the shallowness of material success. He was Indian cinema’s Don Juan and Nietzsche rolled into one.
 
But while much has been said and written on the film-maker and his art, little is known about his life behind the screens. This richly layered account takes a deep dive into the journey of a lonesome, troubled genius who was endlessly being pulled in contrary directions throughout his life.
 
A child prodigy, who actually began as a dancer learning from the great Uday Shankar, an unconventional film-maker who desired commercial success without ever compromising on artistic satisfaction, a self-made entrepreneur who hated numbers yet single-handedly ran a film studio juggling the roles of a producer, director, actor, financier — all this while struggling silently with a deeply troubled personal life, at the centre of which was his tumultuous marriage with Geeta Dutt. 
 
Guru had it all — love, family, money, fame and validation from his audience. His untimely death by suicide, that too after multiple failed attempts, had shocked the entire film industry. But what led to that fateful night when he tipped his hat and said his final goodbye?
 
Best-selling Bollywood biographer Yasser Usman explores the man and the myth Guru Dutt in this definitive biography of a nonconformist star, uncovering the extraordinary lives of the rich and the famous as well the incredible toll it takes on the emotional and mental health of a human being. With cameos from close friends and colleagues Dev Anand, Waheeda Rehman, Johnny Walker, S.D. Burman and most significantly Dutt’s sister, noted painter Lalitha Lajmi, a short but compassionate, ambitious and ultimately tragic life reveals itself in the pages of this book.  
 
This is a gripping, meticulously researched and moving portrait of an unfinished life — a tale of unrequited love, unresolved relationships and unmatched cinematic talent.
 
 

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Film

347 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 7, 2021

Reviews

[Prathyush Parasuraman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yasser Usman, known for bringing a pacy-thriller like edge to film biographies like his predictably named Rekha: The Untold Story, Sanjay Dutt: The Crazy Untold Story Of Bollywood’s Bad Boy, Rajesh Khanna: The Untold Story of India’s First Superstar, brings that same sensibility here. The chapters are short, and quick, and you can burn through the book easily over a night. The short chapters also means that the focus keeps shifting. It’s very contained, brief, but in its briefness it betrays the spirit of a good biographer — to make the reader feel. Its antiseptic narration evokes the same kind of intrigue a Wikipedia entry under “Personal Life” does.

But more than anything one notices Usman’s lack of interest in the world of Guru Dutt. He is only interested in Dutt’s work and Dutt’s life, and any character in cinema vis-a-vis Dutt. He doesn’t humanize the “tacky indoor sets” and “weak scripts”, seeing them as the debris from which Guru Dutt rose, an exception and not a product of his times. I get this impulse in someone writing a commercial biography, and this is that. It’s by no means a tome. But by choosing a commercial biography format — which is a lot of tell-don’t-show, as opposed to the writer’s famous adage show-don’t-tell — something is left in the lurch.

Read the full review:
https://www.filmcompanion.in/features...

[Jawahar Surti · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very well written book on Guru Dutt. It's set into sections as "The Building of a Dream" & "Destruction of a Dream" over the years in Hindi cinema. It will definitely form a complementary reading to the Nasreen Munni Kabir's book - Guru Dutt: A Life in Cinema.

[Arpit Batra · Rating 4 out of 5]

देखी जमाने की यारी,
बिछड़े सभी बारी बारी

Ever since I saw the movie Pyaasa, I have been a fan of Guru Dutt's cinema, so when I saw this book in a bookstore in Delhi, I got it immediately. The book was originally in English, and I read the Hindi translation.

Although Guru Dutt had a short life, his acting and direction made most of his work timeless.
His love of art and his unique creative style can be seen all over his work and reading about his journey, and his personal life really removes the curtain and makes for a very interesting read.

His is a sad story and the pathos of his characters ultimately crept into his personal life , it's very sad to have lost such a great visionary so early.

The brightest flame burns out the fastest, Maybe it is true.

I intend to watch more of his cinema, and if you're interested, add Pyaasa and Kaagaz Ke Phool to your watchlist.

[Gourang Ambulkar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is basically a collection from different sources and the author's conversation with Lalitha Lajmi ( Guru Dutt's sister). Helps portray the surreal life of the Thespian. Almost reminds the reader of Heath Ledger. It's a good precursor to readers wanting to get introduced to Guru Dutt.

Only gripe I have is that the author keeps jumping around with the chronology and hence one has to be alert about the time line to make sense of the flow of Guru Dutt's life.

[Shubham Tiwari · Rating 3 out of 5]

So much has been said about the life and times of Guru Dutt, but this book brings out his mortal angst to a near poetic level. I like Yasser's writing. It's fast-paced, objective, and tries to present a complete picture. The only reason this is not a fiver for me is that Yasser chose a narrative structure that didn't work for me. I would have preferred it from the beginning of the dream to the destruction of it, and not back and forth. Nonetheless, it's a must-read for every cinema lover, let alone Guru Dutt lovers.

[Rohini · Rating 4 out of 5]

I grew up listening to Geeta Dutt's Bengali (and then Hindi) songs. She had a distinctly sweet voice that made her stand out from her contemporary artists. She is one of my most favourite singers. However, I hadn't watched any of Guru Dutt's films, until now. I watched Sahib Biwi aur Ghulam and Pyaasa in the course of reading this book, and boy, what a skilled artist was this man!

This book kept me invested in Guru Dutt's life till the very end. It's a true tragedy that such a master artist and filmmaker lived in so much agony and personal crisis, and left the world so early. And not just that, his personal upheaval destroyed the lives of his children and his beloved wife, the immensely talented and beautiful, Geeta Dutt.

Thanks to this book, I will now read more about Guru and Geeta Dutt's lives.

[Vivek Tejuja · Rating 4 out of 5]

Usman is well-known when it comes to chronicling the life of people from the Hindi film industry. His works are on Rekha, Sanjay Dutt, Rajesh Khanna, and now to join this bandwagon is the tragic life and works of Guru Dutt, who was born Vasanth Kumar Shivashankar Padukone. Usman’s book is a window to the actor, writer, and director’s life in great detail, not hesitating to speak about it all – the loves, the losses, the addiction, the abundantly talented persona, his relationship with his family and wife, and above all the love for his craft, which shone on screen.

To write a biography and that too about such a tortured soul could not have been an easy task. The idea to remove oneself, and look at the text only as an outsider cannot be easy. At the same time, this book is written with such brilliant eye-for-detail, bringing to fore so many details of the man’s life – as a human being, as an artist, and as someone who loved and lost.

The book starts from birth and ends at death, and all of it that took place in-between. From Dutt’s need to make movies that reflected life, and at the same time he also knew how to make commercial hit films. He was of the opinion that for every art-house film he made, he would follow it with a commercial viewing experience. Usman in great details charts every movie that Dutt was associated with in whatever capacity and through those films makes us know the man. Of how he wanted every shot to be perfect – hence the several takes and retakes. Of how portions would be filmed and not used. Of how films got shelved and he incurred losses and jumped right back.

In all of this, what struck me the most was his personal life. The inner turmoil that Usman speaks of so poignantly, and this is where I thought the writing couldn’t be distance from what Usman felt for Dutt. His writing does not ignore the minor or secondary characters. He takes into account every aspect of those films and presents Guru Dutt to the reader – raw and brilliant. The idea of a troubled genius is clearly communicated throughout the book, and what I found most intriguing was how Usman has managed to understand Dutt layer by layer purely through his cinema and silences.

As a reader I didn’t want to take sides. There is no villain here. It is just how life played itself out for the artist, that he couldn’t bear living. I loved the parts of Geeta and Guru Dutt’s life – of how they were so much in love, their pain, anguish, competition, and also how they tried to make things work but could not.

Guru Dutt: An Unfinished Story by Yasser Usman is a very detailed and easily accessible read about a man who went away too soon. He was a tortured soul. He was constantly haunted by life, and that was brought to life most beautifully on screen through his films. Yasser Usman pays the most befitting tribute to a genius, through this book.

[Nishant Bhagat · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to admit that I picked this book with very high expectations. Yasser Usman(YU) is one of my favourite authors covering the stars of Indian Cinema. However, i felt this book falls short on covering one of the enigmas of Indian Cinema.

I was expecting more depth than the toggle between 'Building of a dream' and 'Destruction of a dream'. Too much back and forth spoiled the narrative for me. It is only towards the end of the book that the real emotion comes out.

YU is a way better author than what is out at display here. May be this isn't the definitive biography of rhe great artist, Guru Dutt

[Kunal · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's very unfortunate that I have to rate this one the lowest irrespective of the interesting glimpse author has managed to offer. Narration was very random, amateurish and insipid.

When you have been shared with valuable memories from someone as close as Guru Duty's sibling, it's not too difficult to articulate an intense narration that binds reader's attention.

[Saurabh Kumar · Rating 2 out of 5]

A decent read. Doesn’t do justice to its legendary subject matter.

[Nikhil Sanghotra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Indian Cinema’s Don Juan and Nietzsche rolled into one!!


But was he a simple man?

I think not.

An act of creation is not a simple task and therefore, the one performing/involved in the act is equally not a simpleton. Whether it is commercial, artistic, experimental or purely self-indulgent, every creative work undergoes a multiplicity of physical and emotional labour. While some may seek out a life of hermitage to produce their work and some may throw themselves to the extremes of hedonism, both categorically remains equally complex and complicated and to label one of them as simplistic and humble would be an error of judgement and risk to falling into the traps of reductionism.

Guru Dutt, though had his own artistic vision related to the kind of films he made, had suffered through the classic case of the ‘tortured artist.’ His films lacked the extravaganza usually associated with the Hindi language films getting produced in the 1950s and 60s Bombay, but this does not mean Dutt was a simple man. Having struggled his way out through the financial precarity of his family to make a name for himself in the film industry was a huge work in itself, almost equivalent to conquering the summit of Everest. His films carried the pathos of life in the form of the superficiality of transactional nature of human relationships, meaninglessness of living in an urban environment, relegation of underprivileged to the margins of the society and the failure in validating the artistic integrity of an honest work, to name a few. However, his struggle with life was complicated in a much more intricate manner which involved him making big in the industry and even after achieving all the success, he abandoned it all and preferred to living a reclusive life.

Guru Dutt, throughout his life, was in the quest of that transcendental sublime, the spiritual quest, the thing which would fill the void that every human feels throughout their life. And for that he turned to creative pursuits to look for it. He had massive success in initial years, earned money and fame through his work, built a huge mansion at the most expensive locality in Bombay, had a successful and lovable marriage with Geeta Dutt but all of this was not able to fix the agonies, the insurmountable existential turmoil erupting in his head. The early success in his career and the later crash with his most intimate and personal film Kaagaz Ke Phool, personal disagreements with Geeta Dutt leading towards a disruption in their marriage, him getting hounded by the Revenue Officials for questioning of tax evasion were some of the instances which troubled Guru Dutt towards the last stint of his life. Even though he met a tragic end, it was easy to say that Guru Dutt had everything in his life which every person desires to have but clearly, Guru Dutt was no simple person and was dealt with much more than he was able to chew.

And the only answer left for him was to just shut the door to the world and drink himself to the otherworld.

[Rishabh Karwayun · Rating 4 out of 5]

Guru Dutt is undoubtedly one of the most original directors the Indian film industry has ever seen. As is often the case with truly pathbreaking artists, he was hardly appreciated during his lifetime. Only after his death did his films find the recognition they deserved. It’s ironic that this very theme lies at the heart of what I consider his best film, Pyaasa (1957).

From what I gathered while reading this book: Guru Dutt, though a master of his craft, had very little emotional intelligence off the set. He simply couldn’t get a grip on things. His habit of keeping quiet and not sharing his inner turmoil with anyone did him no favours. Even professionally, he was highly indecisive, often abandoning projects regardless of the time, effort, or money already invested. That same indecisiveness bled into his personal relationships.

The real tragedy is that there’s very little directly from Guru Dutt himself, and even less from Geeta Dutt. Most of what we know comes second-hand, friends, colleagues, and family offering their recollections. This means that for much of the story, we have no true sense of what they were thinking or feeling. That missing perspective makes the narrative more complex, because so much of it is told not as it actually happened, but as others remembered it.

I also feel deeply for Geeta Dutt, who was the real casualty here. In my view, she was a better singer than even the great Lata Mangeshkar. Many singers can do justice to Lata Mangeshkar’s songs, but with Geeta Dutt, no one even comes close. Even Lata Mangeshkar herself, when she covered Waqt Ne Kiya Kya Haseen Sitam, couldn’t recreate even a fraction of the magic Geeta Dutt brought to it. She lost her career, her marriage, and finally her husband. Slipping into alcoholism, she too passed away a few years later.

This book doesn’t read like a traditional biography; it feels more like a fast-paced thriller. One problem I usually have with biographies is that certain sections, though important, just aren’t very interesting to me, especially the childhood and formative years. Here, the author does something clever, alternating between periods when Guru Dutt’s life was on an upswing and when it was falling apart. One moment you’re in his childhood, and the next you’re in the middle of the production of Pyaasa. That constant shifting between timelines keeps you hooked. I didn’t find the jumps confusing; in fact, they made the book more engaging. I walked away with far more understanding and perspective than I had before.

[Ashima Jain · Rating 4 out of 5]

I do not consider myself a Bollywood fan, but ever since I read Yasser Usman’s first biography, written on Rajesh Khanna, he has easily become my favourite Bollywood Biographer.

Guru Dutt’s filmography includes names which have long been considered as some of the finest films ever made in India. While much has been said and written on the film-maker and his art, little is known about his life behind the screen. His untimely death by suicide had shocked the entire film industry. But what led to that fateful night when he tipped his hat and said his final goodbye?

True to his style, Usman digs through Guru Dutt’s life behind the camera to uncover the grief and loneliness that bound him. The narrative chronicles the film industry in the 50s and 60s – how film making was changing, evolving. Usman connects these with their impact on Guru Dutt’s dreams over the years.

I imagine it mustn’t have been easy to delve so deeply into investigating the mental and emotional state of his subject without being affected by it himself. It is incredible how the author draws a moving portrait, capturing the nuances of Guru Dutt’s ambitious life in this gripping account of the man and the myth.

For complete review, visit aquamarineflavours.wordpress.com

[Sabia khan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Guru Dutt An Unfinished Story

Author - @yasser.usman


⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

An Excruciatingly Beautiful Biography of Guru Dutt who left for his heavenly abode at a very young age.

The book talks about in and out of his Cinematic works , his failures and success in professional and person life . How life took a toll on him and his different way of putting cinema in front of his audience.

Yasser has captured almost every aspect of Genius Guru Dutts life. It's a felicituos tribute to a Versatile Man. The language is simple and easy to read , even entertaining as it has some anecdotes that will make you grin from ear to ear. Even if you are reading about him for the first time , you will soon catch up with his life and the emotions flow in.

[Shweta Rohira · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yasser Usman @yasser.usman this author is born to finish and tell untold stories. Read Guru Dutt an unfinished story I must say I am at a loss for words. The way it is written I felt I was living the life and being in that space with Guru Dutt felt I was living along with the legend. Glued to the book would be an understatement. As bizarre as it may sound but this book made me feel that though Guru Dutt was a man with few words and non-expressive in his life somewhere in the world of books he has been expressed here through the author. His untimely death was a comma, left with a lot of questions unanswered but this book in some way is a full stop and has finished his unfinished story.

[Riddhi · Rating 2 out of 5]

As far as the research goes on the subject of this biography, it comes from a resource as rich as Lalitha Lajmi's memories. What's disappointing is that despite the publishers putting a team of three editors on this book (and generally having received rave reviews on Amazon and Goodreads), it is riddled with typographical errors and repetition of certain stories, which quite frankly ruined the experience of reading it for me.

[Tasneem Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful. Every incident, each page transforms to the era that was. The author's grip on the emotions of guru dutt, his inner turmoil is so beautifully woven that a reader could feel what he must be going though. Guru Dutt's passion towards the art, his work could be seen through the simple yet emotive writing.

[Kamlesh Gandhi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely absorbing and very well written. The author has done a remarkable job of writing about someone who passed away several years ago . However he had captured every nuances from interviews with others and well researched from other publications. Fluid writing

[Param · Rating 2 out of 5]

A between hack-y and sensationalised account of this man's life. The author lifts accounts and paragraphs from better books and delivers a, maybe, more easily consumable but not readily reliable version of a biography.

[Priya · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been following articles on Guru Dutt and Geeta Dutt for quite sometime now. Lots of portions in the book I already knew. His battle with depression comes across very clearly. I feel his idiosyncrasies stemmed majorly from this disorder. A problem which went, I guess, largely undetected or untreated those days. In the bargain, it destroyed relationships and lives.

This book is good for people who want to know more about Guru Dutt as a person and is not really interested in the technical aspects of his film making.

Interview with daughter Nina Dutt and relatives of Geeta Dutt would have helped. There should also have been interview with Mala Sinha, his co-star in many films(including his last film). Normally, we get to read opinions about him from Waheeda Rehman and Lalitha Lajmi.
Guru Dutt has worked with a wide range of people and their opinion would have helped readers understand him better

[Louis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great Insight to Guru Dutt Life

[Sai Bharadwaj · Rating 3 out of 5]

We've heard that Art imitates Life. This is what reciprocated in Guru Dutt's films until slowly the thin line between his art and his life vanished and his life imitated the tragedies in his art.

[Sheel · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's a very fast read but very superficial. Author doesn't seem invested in the subject, which can make a very riveting book. It almost feels like an assignment done for grades.

[Amit · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a good read, interesting and keeps the reader engaged. The story is presented nicely and details shared.

[Alpi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A master par excellence. This gem of a book will leave you teary eyed.

[Nish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Guru Dutt has always been and will always be an enigma, however, this book is a well-rounded and meticulously-researched attempt to humanise the legendary filmmaker and actor. With a filmography that is revered and celebrated even today by fans, critics and students alike, this book delves into the actor's personal life, from his birth until his untimely death in 1964. We get an insight into the complex mind of an emotional, aloof perfectionist from those who were closest to him.

Before diving into this book, I hardly knew anything about Guru Dutt; other than he was legend of Hindi Cinema who had committed suicide - news which, at the time, had left the nation desolate and had shaken the Indian Film Fraternity. I wanted to read this book to get an understanding of what made Guru Dutt the person that he was, the trajectory and finer details of his career, the people who surrounded him at the time, and Yasser Usman did not disappoint.

The chapters are short and the writing is fast paced so this is a definite page turner and felt like the perfect precursor for readers who want to get introduced to Guru Dutt. I felt like I was living Guru Dutt's life alongside him, through the pages. Though a man of few words, Dutt expressed himself through his art. It is evident that Cinema and storytelling was his whole life, to the point where, even when films did not do well, he was compassionate and prioritised the care of his staff and their wellbeing, ensuring they were paid and were able to keep their jobs - an emotion brought to the fore by Usman's writing. The only downside for me personally, was the structure and back and forth in the timeline which was difficult to follow at times and interrupted the natural flow. Otherwise, I would summarise that I feel like my love for old Hindi Cinema has been rekindled and I have already made a list of Dutt's work that will be a must-watch now that I have finished this book. A well-written, unbiased, fitting tribute. Bravo!

[Pushkar Sohony · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hadn’t seen Guru Dutt’s films, but always heard he was a creative genius. I read this book to believe it—and I truly do now. Yasser Usman’s writing (and Mahendra Yadav’s translation) brings Guru Dutt alive like a dramatic, emotional film. His artistic madness, personal heartbreaks, and obsession with perfection unfold like a gripping script. This is not just a biography; it’s a peek behind the curtain of a fragile, gifted soul. The tragic end hits hard. Like a classic black-and-white movie, this book lingers with silence, sadness, and sheer brilliance.

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[Lipika Chaudhuri · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a very good book, informative and well researched!
It’s Geeta and Guru Dutt’s story, how they both managed to be magnificent artists despite the turbulence in their lives, that they loved each other deeply in spite of clashing egos, how the other important people in their lives made a contribution to their art and much more. However the chapters are not in chronological order! One has to go back and forth to make sense of what’s happening.

[Bharati Shroff · Rating 5 out of 5]

A tragic story of a great soul...

What a troubled life Gurudutt led...A never before..never since talent...brilliant star that faded and died too soon...his films will live on forever....