Saw this movie recently - Pyaasa (1957). I know I should have seen it earlier, but just happened to watch it now. While the beauty of the movie lies in its making, direction, acting, music, lyrics and all other departments, the soul of the movie focuses on the human thirst 'Pyaas' (trivia tells me they intended to name the Pyaas previously). When a man (or woman) has nothing with him, then everybody may dessert him. Friends, to lover, to family member, to society at large, everybody show this man his 'place in society' - a good for nothing being who nobody cares about. And the few who do feel for him, can't do much for him, because invariably they are also weak (at least that's what they tried to show in the film).
After hitting absolute rock bottom, this man thinks he has seen all the betrayals, every dejection, the last bit of cruelty by the world around him, but ironically and unfortunately, the worst is yet to come. It is when this man perhaps decides to die, and the world believes about his (fake) death, that reality eventually strikes. His one true love stakes everything she has to get his poetry published, which turns him into an overnight posthumous sensation. What follows then is surreal. The estranged brothers have never been prouder, the friend ready to 'sell' their friendship for money, the people who never believed in him making a fortune off his life, and the public at large lapping up legendary poetry that they rejected with dismay earlier.
Never have I seen a more beautiful climax of a movie, with Guru Dutt starting to sing on his death anniversary celebration "Yeh duniya agar mil bhi jaaye to kya hai" - a song that anybody who even indulges in an iota of introspection will readily relate with. The movie finally ends on a 'happy note', with the poet giving up all the fame and success that he craved all his life, only to start afresh, realizing this 'duniya' isn't meant for him.
Now I don't know what got me talking so far, and I didn't mean this to be a movie review. But this movie, tells and teaches you a whole lot about the world around you. Through its exaggerated account, it explains to you how politicians function, how relationships change, why money matters, how 'pyaar is also a vyapaar', the class divide in society, the cost of fame, the feeling of success and then the true meaning of success.
The answers to life's biggest questions are often found in movies. If you, unfortunately like me didn't get a chance to watch this masterpiece so far, then do check it out online. A movie made in 1957 is just as relevant today, and will remain one forever, because of its timelessness.
After hitting absolute rock bottom, this man thinks he has seen all the betrayals, every dejection, the last bit of cruelty by the world around him, but ironically and unfortunately, the worst is yet to come. It is when this man perhaps decides to die, and the world believes about his (fake) death, that reality eventually strikes. His one true love stakes everything she has to get his poetry published, which turns him into an overnight posthumous sensation. What follows then is surreal. The estranged brothers have never been prouder, the friend ready to 'sell' their friendship for money, the people who never believed in him making a fortune off his life, and the public at large lapping up legendary poetry that they rejected with dismay earlier.
Never have I seen a more beautiful climax of a movie, with Guru Dutt starting to sing on his death anniversary celebration "Yeh duniya agar mil bhi jaaye to kya hai" - a song that anybody who even indulges in an iota of introspection will readily relate with. The movie finally ends on a 'happy note', with the poet giving up all the fame and success that he craved all his life, only to start afresh, realizing this 'duniya' isn't meant for him.
Now I don't know what got me talking so far, and I didn't mean this to be a movie review. But this movie, tells and teaches you a whole lot about the world around you. Through its exaggerated account, it explains to you how politicians function, how relationships change, why money matters, how 'pyaar is also a vyapaar', the class divide in society, the cost of fame, the feeling of success and then the true meaning of success.
The answers to life's biggest questions are often found in movies. If you, unfortunately like me didn't get a chance to watch this masterpiece so far, then do check it out online. A movie made in 1957 is just as relevant today, and will remain one forever, because of its timelessness.