Page 18 - SeniorsToday May20

came to Bombay looking for a job. Even
Guru Dutt’s life was wreathed in tragedy as much as
creativity and joy
train under the maestro at the Academy in
Almora, North India. After much thought
uncle Benegal decided to help with the
Almora fees and his mother with personal
expenses. It used to be bitterly cold during
the winters in Almora and Guru didn’t even
have a proper jacket to keep him warm.
However, he was the youngest there and
everybody was fond of him, so he was taken
care of. By this time Padukones had moved
to Bombay and were living in a small flat in
Matunga. Their hardship continued – his
father did a clerical job, his mother taught in
a school, his grandmother looked after the
children and young Lalitha ran errands.
One day Guru told the family that Uday
Shankar was coming with his troupe to
Bombay for a performance at the Royal
Opera House. His mother and Lalitha were
looking forward to seeing Guru after a long
time. They saw the famous Tandav Nritya
performed by the maestro and a beautiful
solo performance by Guru titled ‘The
Swan’. After the performance mother went
backstage along with Lalitha to meet Uday
Shankar and Guru. The maestro said to his
mother – your son has great talent and you
should support him and his creativity.
Later on, however, the Almora Academy had
to shut down and most of the young dancers
18
though it was difficult, Guru helped four of
his friends by letting them stay in his house
in Matunga. Mother telegraphed uncle
Benegal requesting him to come down to
Bombay as he knew directors and producers.
Uncle Benegal came to Bombay and helped
Guru join Prabhat Studios as an assistant
choreographer.
Guru also did small roles here and there to
make extra income. Here he became friends
with Dev Anand and Rehman. The trio
would spend a lot of time together working
on sets and later they would hang out and
talk about how they were going to make it
big. The friendship was such that they had
promised each other that whenever either
one gets success, he shall help the other two.
The director’s debut
Guru was rejected by producers several
times, but he didn’t stop writing. He would
ask his mother and Lalitha for their opinions
on the script. At that time, he had written
Kashmakash, which was later titled Pyaasa.
He was very sensitive, curious, observant of
the smallest details, and that kept him ahead
of his times. By then Dev Anand’s career had
taken off and as promised he invited Guru to
direct a film in his new production company,
Navketan Films. Guru made his directorial
debut with Baazi… and thus began the life of
the genius filmmaker.
Lalitha narrates, “Our whole family
was invited for the recording of the song
‘Tadbeer se bigdi hui’ to be sung by Geeta
Roy. At the mahurat, a Bengali beauty
walked in, wearing a white silk sari with
a golden border. She was so simple and
humble for a successful singer. As the
recording proceeded, we fell in love with
Geeta and I suppose my brother too must
have felt the same. My mother knew Bengali