Pyaasa/ The Thirsty, 1957 - A Review

Directed and produced by Guru Dutt

Written by Abrar Alvi

Guru Dutt as Vijay

Waheeda Rehman.as Gulabo

Mala Sinha as Meena

Rehman as Mr Ghosh, the publisher 

Pyaasa or The Eternal Thirst. A simple cinematography with a complex storyline. Featuring - a poet who did not seem to know what he wanted in life but misery and the joy of the pain of living in it. But then again, he's a poet. What do you expect? A classic Guru Dutt films.


I love classical films. Partly because I dislike CGI or maybe, I am just an old soul in a young, albeit large, body. And I love India. And Bollywood films. And Pyaasa is one of its ultimate classics. Helmed by Guru Dutt, an icon in the industry, it featured many of Dutt's signatures - layered dialogues, unhappy love story, evil vs good, money vs poverty and the ultimate signatures of all, misery. Similar to Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam, misery and the choice to live in it seemed to be the central focus of Pyaasa.

It revolved around a young failed poet by the name of Vijay, who, despite his college education, decided to leave his family and lived on the streets with the hope to successfully become a published poet. He, of course, failed. Poetry is easy to be produced but difficult to be sold. Poetry is art and its commercial value would be almost impossible to be measured. With nothing to live for but his art, Vijay mused alongside the city streets, spending nights on the bench and days roaming on the street of the city. He met his former girlfriend, now wife of a respected publisher who offered him a job as an assistant. He hated it but had no choice. He had no money to feed himself. Despite the resurfaced attraction to his former flame, Vijay was uninterested in rekindling their romance. He then met a prostitute, Gulabo with a kind heart who worshipped his poems. A friendship was formed. After struggling with rejections and failures, Vijay was mistakenly assumed to be dead. His poems was published posthumously with Gulabo's savings, only to become very popular, ironically after his assumed demise. He returned to his circles, only to be taken aback by the sudden fame and admiration by his newfound fans. It was too much for him to handle and Vijay finally chose to leave the city to start a new life with Gulabo.


Screencaps:-

What I love from Guru Dutt's films are the intensity of the characters' emotions. When they feel, they feel deeply despite the foolishness of it. In Pyaasa, we have Vijay, who was so against the human nature of pursuing wealth despite his stabile upbringing. He chose to be a poet whereas his college mates were leading successful lives. He was poor and homeless yet he was sincere, honest and passionate than turning into a pretentious materialistic businessmen like other characters in the film. His poverty was his choice to be free from the chain of capitalism.

The scene where he sang the song 'Jinhen Naaz Hai Hind Par' while roaming the red light district, seeing the drunken men chasing the sex workers had to be the most profound scene of film history of all time. It pinpointed many wrong things of human nature - lust, money, power, ignorance and selfishness. He kept questioning, where were the leaders when the poor had to sell themselves for food, where were the philanthropist, where were everyone else who cared.

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The 'love story' part of the film was not of much focus here compared to Vijay's struggle against the world. There were two prominent female characters who were infatuated with him - the rich, respected but pretentious wife and the kind-hearted sincere prostitute. Both served as a contrast to exhibit the two different classes they lived in. Money was indirectly criticized here - wealth does not buy you honesty. Indeed, most of the well-off characters with money were depicted as ruthless, selfish and opportunistic ie the publishers, Vijay's brothers and his former girlfriend.

In the end, Vijay did not find happiness. But he had decided to leave the cruel world he was so miserably trapped in at last. He decided to leave and asked Gulabo, the kind prostitute to leave with him. Was it a happy ending? Not at all, in my opinion. It seemed that he gave up on the world, in search for a better one. But then again, what if there is no better world out there? What if the world that we are in right now - the capitalistic selfish world that it is - is the only one left? What would happen to Vijay, then? Would he give up and leave again? Would he kill himself out of dissapointment? I have no idea. He was brave to choose the way he wanted to live, I'd give him credit for that. But not everyone can afford to be like that. Someone has to stay and face the reality and work for things to change instead of complaining about it. Of course, that person is likely not a poet. And most likely not a sentimentalist. Or anything that's related to expressing emotions in any artistic manner.  

Watch the films if you enjoy anything that is melancholic, tragic, deep and poetic. It will leave you emotionally affected, its characters question your own and its songs - despite its obvious oldies origin - remain attached to your head.

And you will be laughed by your friends for watching a 1957 Hindi film despite living in the 20th century.

This film is even older than my country. Duh.