April 20, 1963. The then President, Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, was presenting the 10th National Awards. Among those present at the Vigyan Bhavan
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that evening was Biswajeet Chatterjee, whose Bengali film Dada Thakur, based on the life of publisher-satirist Sarat Chandra Pandit, had bagged the President's Gold Medal for the All India Best Feature Film. Satyajit Ray, whose Bengali film Abhijaan received the All India Certificate of Honour for Second Best Feature Film, could not make it to the function, but Guru Dutt was there to accept the President's Silver Medal for Best Feature Film (Hindi) for his period drama, Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam. 'We bumped into each other in the lobby of Delhi's Hotel Ashoka and Guruda whisked me off to the coffee shop for a cuppa and a chat,' the veteran actor reminisces 57 years later.Super jackpot wheel. Guru Dutt with Waheeda Rehman in Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam
What makes this coffee meet interesting is that Biswajeetda was the filmmaker's first choice to play Bhootnath, through whose eyes this story of aristocratic debauchery in feudal Bengal plays out. Bimal Mitra, who had helped the film's writer-director Abrar Alvi turn his voluminous novel set in colonial India into a workable script, had taken Guru Dutt saab and his singer-wife Geeta Dutt, along with Abrar saab, to see the play, which drew packed houses every week at Kolkata's Rang Mahal theatre, to check out the young actor playing Bhootnath. 'He liked my performance and invited me to dinner at the Grand Hotel. I had always assumed that Dutt was an abbreviation for Dutta and that Guruda was a Bengali. So, I was happily chatting with him in fluent Bangla till Surya Ladia, his distributor-friend who'd escorted me there, started speaking in Hindi. Frowning, I asked him if he was from Kolkata or a probashi Bengali who'd grown up outside the state. He laughed and admitted that he was a Konkani but had spent his growing up years in Kolkata, studied dance at Uday Shankar's academy and his guru was Jhoola and Kismet director Gyan Mukherjee,' shares Biswajeetda, who, after being offered the role of Bhootnath in Guru Dutt's home production, was even introduced to Meena Kumari, Waheeda Rehman and the rest of the team as the film's ‘hero' at the filmmaker's studio.
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It's another story that Biswajeetda regretfully turned down the offer, and peeved with Shashi Kapoor, his next choice for Bhootnath, for coming to a 6 pm narration three hours late, Guru Dutt saab shaved off his trademark moustache and looking years younger, stepped in front of the camera. 'When I saw the film, I thought Guruda was perfect and looked every inch a Bengali. He had an uncanny likeness to a popular Bengali actor, Anil Chatterjee, and had pointed this out to both,' he recounts.
He was afraid Guru Dutt would be upset with him for turning down Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam, but while filming his debut Hindi film, Bees Saal Baad, Biswajeetda would stay with his producer, singer-composer Hemant Kumar, and Guru Dutt would often drop by his good friend Hemantda's Khar residence, ‘Geetanjali'. 'And never did he convey through word or gesture that my refusal had irked him, even during a music session of Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam with Hemantda. In fact, on occasions, I've been invited to his Pali Hill bungalow, where, true to her promise, Geetadi prepared a Bengali feast for all of us,' Biswajeetda reveals.
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All through these years of camaraderie, Biswajeetda was most impressed with the way Guru Dutt seamlessly made the transition from commercial romcoms and thrillers like Baazi, Jaal, Aar Paar, Mr & Mrs 55 and CID to classics like Pyaasa, Kagaz Ke Phool, Chaudvin Ka Chand and Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam, in which he played the lead by default. I recalled Abrar Alvi saab telling me that after shooting two reels of Pyaasa, his director-friend had suddenly gone to Dilip Kumar with the role of Vijay. 'It was only when Dilip Kumar turned it down, that he returned to play the protagonist. Even for Kagaz Ke Phool, he had approached Chetan Anand, who had demanded as high a price as his brother Dev Anand and had only acted in Chaudvin Ka Chand because he could not afford a big star after the debacle of Kagaz Ke Phool,' Abrar saab had narrated.
Biswajeetda, who believes Pyaasa was his best performance, admits that he had hoped he'd get another chance to work with Guru Dutt after he came to Mumbai. 'Geetadi dropped by my place one day with Nazar, Mehboob Khan saab's assistant director, and informed that she was producing a film which he was to direct. She asked me if I'd play the leading man. I agreed immediately without even a script narration. But a few days later, Guruda passed away and Geetadi never spoke of the film again,' he rues.
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Guru Dutt was born on July 9, 1925, and 39 years later, he was found dead at his Peddar Road apartment. He was working in two outside films at the time—Picnic with Sadhana and K Asif's Love And God opposite Nimmi—and his own production, Baharein Phir Bhi Aayengi with Mala Sinha and Tanuja. 'I had gone to meet Guruda at his studio shortly before his death. When I enquired about him, the watchman told me he had just driven past me,' Biswajeetda flashbacks. 'He would do his make-up in his own studio before going for the shooting of Love And God. In his Majnu costume and beard, I had not recognised him. Even after all these years, I remember Guruda for the gentleman he was, soft-spoken, with a sweet smile always playing on his lips. Just imagine all the films he would have made had death not snatched him away too soon.'
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He was afraid Guru Dutt would be upset with him for turning down Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam, but while filming his debut Hindi film, Bees Saal Baad, Biswajeetda would stay with his producer, singer-composer Hemant Kumar, and Guru Dutt would often drop by his good friend Hemantda's Khar residence, ‘Geetanjali'. 'And never did he convey through word or gesture that my refusal had irked him, even during a music session of Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam with Hemantda. In fact, on occasions, I've been invited to his Pali Hill bungalow, where, true to her promise, Geetadi prepared a Bengali feast for all of us,' Biswajeetda reveals.
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All through these years of camaraderie, Biswajeetda was most impressed with the way Guru Dutt seamlessly made the transition from commercial romcoms and thrillers like Baazi, Jaal, Aar Paar, Mr & Mrs 55 and CID to classics like Pyaasa, Kagaz Ke Phool, Chaudvin Ka Chand and Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam, in which he played the lead by default. I recalled Abrar Alvi saab telling me that after shooting two reels of Pyaasa, his director-friend had suddenly gone to Dilip Kumar with the role of Vijay. 'It was only when Dilip Kumar turned it down, that he returned to play the protagonist. Even for Kagaz Ke Phool, he had approached Chetan Anand, who had demanded as high a price as his brother Dev Anand and had only acted in Chaudvin Ka Chand because he could not afford a big star after the debacle of Kagaz Ke Phool,' Abrar saab had narrated.
Biswajeetda, who believes Pyaasa was his best performance, admits that he had hoped he'd get another chance to work with Guru Dutt after he came to Mumbai. 'Geetadi dropped by my place one day with Nazar, Mehboob Khan saab's assistant director, and informed that she was producing a film which he was to direct. She asked me if I'd play the leading man. I agreed immediately without even a script narration. But a few days later, Guruda passed away and Geetadi never spoke of the film again,' he rues.
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Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah resumes shoot with the Tapu Sena
Asit Kumarr Modi's long-running show returned to Film City studio on Friday after three months with kiddy gang
Guru Dutt was born on July 9, 1925, and 39 years later, he was found dead at his Peddar Road apartment. He was working in two outside films at the time—Picnic with Sadhana and K Asif's Love And God opposite Nimmi—and his own production, Baharein Phir Bhi Aayengi with Mala Sinha and Tanuja. 'I had gone to meet Guruda at his studio shortly before his death. When I enquired about him, the watchman told me he had just driven past me,' Biswajeetda flashbacks. 'He would do his make-up in his own studio before going for the shooting of Love And God. In his Majnu costume and beard, I had not recognised him. Even after all these years, I remember Guruda for the gentleman he was, soft-spoken, with a sweet smile always playing on his lips. Just imagine all the films he would have made had death not snatched him away too soon.'
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Tahira Kashyap completes fourth book during the lockdown
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