Most screenplay books tend to work best for film students, who first watch the films and then learn how the words have been translated onto the screen — the more complex a film, the more interesting it is to read its screenplay. But Kaagaz ke Phool: The Original Screenplay , written by Dinesh Raheja and Jitendra Kothari, with interviews with Waheeda Rehman, Dev Anand and cinematographer V.K. Murthy, gives us an insight into Indian cinema’s ‘most famous flop’ and its maker Guru Dutt, whose tryst with fleeting fame resonates with that of Suresh Sinha, the character he plays in the film.
What makes it amusing even for a layman to read this screenplay is the deconstruction of iconic scenes, such as the one where Suresh (Guru Dutt) discovers his heroine Shanti (Waheeda Rehman). Shanti has stumbled into a studio and walks right into a scene Suresh is shooting. Later, when he sees the rushes in a preview theatre, he realises that hers is the ideal face he has been looking for, his heroine Paro. Dutt says, “ Paro ke role ke liye bilkul aise hi chehre ki talash thi. Gupta, yeh ladki jahan bhi ho fauran bulao. Fauran !” (I was looking for exactly this face to cast as Paro. Gupta, find this girl instantly, wherever she might be.) Or take the scene where Suresh visits Shanti’s flat as she is leaving Bombay.
Shanti:
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Suresh:
Shanti: Haan, main jaane se pehle aapko batana chahti thi lekin… (Yes, I wanted to tell you but…)
Suresh:
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Shanti: Mujhe yakeen tha aap zaroor samajh jaayenge (I knew you would understand.)
Suresh: Humne humesha ek-doosre ko samjha. Hain na ? (We have always understood each other, haven’t we?)
Shanti: Hamesha . (Always)
Suresh: Kabhi kabhi log ek-doosre ko itni achchi tarah kyon samajhne lagte hain? Kyon ? (Why do some people understand each other so well? Why?)
The book’s writers describe Suresh’s character as ‘…self-involved and exasperating, but not unlovable’; and talking of Guru Dutt’s struggle with fame, the writers say, “The ultimate irony, of course, is that Guru Dutt’s fame and that of Kaagaz ke Phool has endured even five decades after its initial rejection… Guru Dutt played fame. Fame won. Guru Dutt created artistic, fervid expositions on fame; and unpredictable fame had the last laugh.”
Interestingly, the book reveals how even Waheeda’s real-life personality mirrors that of Shanti. When asked if she found it challenging to play the naïve Shanti despite the stardom she had attained after Pyaasa, she says, “I never felt or behaved like a star. I wasn’t very fond of make-up. In my personal life, I would wear a salwar kameez and sport two plaits. I was gently reprimanded by well-wishers for not applying lipstick and I was advised to behave like a star.” Waheeda, all of 20 at that time, also goes on to say that she had warned Guru Dutt during its making that the film would not run — “not only because I thought it made for very heavy viewing but also because the audience perceives the lives of film people as a bed of roses.”
Om Books International, Rs. 595