http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnsxymuKAV8
If you check out some of the American lists on world cinemas’ greatest directors, two Indian names can be expected to be there. One is Satyajit Ray and the other is Gurudutt. So, I decided to watch the movie Pyasa , knowing very well that he made a very different movie which turned out to be a box office flop but later on went to acquire a cult following.
The movie is about a poor sensitive poet who is not getting the recognition, due to him from the society and in the end he walks away with a prostitute who loves and worships him. Of course, it had to be a flop, I said to myself. Audience at that time would have found the idea of eloping with a prostitute too bold and moreover the movie was taking many potshots at the weak moral fibre of our society. And nobody wants to confront the truth.
Well it turned out that I had my information mixed up. It was Kagaz ke Phool which was a box office flop and later acquired a cult following and Pyasa was actually a hit.
While watching the movie I was feeling that I am walking through an art gallery and looking at these great paintings and all of a sudden a loud and obnoxious advertisement is in the display. The movie seems like a bizarre mix of bold personal cinema and cheesy bollywood clichés. And since the clichés are so old they are all the more cheesy. Quite possible that the clichés actually became clichés as rest of the bollywood copied Gurudutt.
Apart from being personal and bold, the one strength of the movie is the luscious poetry in the songs. Good example is the link shared above. Here Waheeda Rehman as a prostitute from Sona Gachi is trying to lure Gurudutt. Now nobody lures with a poetic song in which she breaks into and the first two minutes seem ridiculous. But if you suspend your disbelief a little, you would perhaps be taken over by the sheer sex and romance in the words and music.
- Amaresh
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