When the legendary filmmaker-actor Guru Dutt passed away suddenly and mysteriously on October 10, 1964, many of his dreams too died a quiet death. Of the many projects he had in mind was a Bengali film Gouri with his wife, the silken-voiced Geeta Dutt, nee Roy, as its leading lady.
But it was not just films that he left incomplete. The large-hearted filmmaker wanted to construct a residential building for his unit members on a plot of land he had bought in a bylane of suburban Bombay. However, his demise put paid to such plans.
Thereafter, his brother, filmmaker Atma Ram, who had started his career assisting him, took over the reins at Guru Dutt Films Pvt. Ltd for a few years and revived some of his dreams. While he asked director Shahid Lateef to re-shoot Baharen Phir Bhi Aayengi, one of the films that lay incomplete, he supervised the building of the housing society himself, leaving no stone unturned to take his brother’s generous gesture forward.
Actress Asha Parekh, Guru Dutt’s co-star in Bharosa and the heroine of Atma Ram’s film Shikar, graced the foundation-laying ceremony, and sculptor Pradip Sharma was commissioned the sculpting of the gifted filmmaker’s bust, which was placed in the lobby.
Guru Dutt Apartments in suburban Mumbai.
Unfortunately, financial constraints prevented Atma Ram from gifting free homes, but he sold the houses to Guru Dutt’s colleagues at cost price.
Rajendra Chhura, an assistant director to Atma Ram at the time, recalls that assistant cameraman K.G. Prabhakar, production manager and assistant director Shyam Kapoor, assistant editor E.G. Shinde were some of Guru Dutt’s team members who bought a place in Guru Dutt Apartments.
“There were some like me and dance master Kamal from Atma Ramji’s team who also benefited from Guru Dutt’s magnanimous dream,” adds Chhura, one of the original members still residing in the four-storey building located in sylvan surroundings, off Yari Road in Versova.
The building, which bears the passionate filmmaker’s name in bold lettering, is perhaps the only property left today that has his name. His studio is long gone. The bungalow he owned on Pali Hill has a multistorey in its place — Dutt demolished the structure himself. His flat on Hughes Road, where he breathed his last, was sold.
The handsome, jet-black statue of him in the lobby is also possibly his only statue in the city. It is a wonderful way to remember the writer-actor-director-producer. With his arms crossed over his chest, in a full-sleeved, buttoned-down shirt, his signature pensive brow, mesmerising eyes… Guru Dutt has been immortalised by sculptor Sharma. I gaze at the filmmaker, awestruck!
Sharma too bought a flat in the building and spent many creative years here. When he moved to the rarefied climes of Dehradun for his mother’s health, Shubhada Shelar and her late husband bought his flat. “Guru Dutt’s statue was the deciding factor when buying Sharma’s flat. My father had introduced me to almost all his films and I was simply overwhelmed seeing his statue. Not only did all his films race through my mind, I felt a deep re-connection with my late father,” recounts Shubhada, emotionally.
There is also a Bengali connect. As is well-known, many of Guru Dutt’s young, impressionable years were spent in Calcutta. He also spent some years here as an adult after a stint at Uday Shankar’s dance academy in Almora. While working as a telephone operator in this second phase, Dutt imbibed Bengali culture so deeply that he was often mistaken to be a Bengali.
Guru Dutt Apartments in suburban Mumbai.
When he married the beautiful Bengali singer Geeta Roy, it was perhaps a culmination of his love for Bengal. And, of course, making Bimal Mitra’s Saheb Bibi Golam into a classic black and white film made Dutt almost a Bengali by default. Like Guru Dutt, Shubhada’s father was an avid reader of Bengali literature.
“He read the translated versions and even named me after one of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s novels,” she points out, animatedly. Coming upon Guru Dutt in this manner was almost surreal for her.
Ever since, Shubhada took on the onus of keeping the statue clean and unfailingly garlanding it on July 9, Dutt’s birthday, and on October 10, his death anniversary. This year being Dutt’s hundredth birthday, Chhura joined Shubhada in remembering the legend by making kheer and distributing it to all the residents.
“As a student at the Film and Television Institute of India, I had watched many of Guru Dutt’s classics. I never knew then I would work with Atma Ramji under his brother’s banner and live in a building he wanted to build,” states Chhura, now in his autumn years.
Interestingly, the housing society seems to attract many from the worlds of cinema and art.
The late Kuldip Pawar, versatile Marathi film actor, lived here in flat number 9. Others who recently moved here are artistes from the world of music, design, art. Creativity, clearly, is in the air.
Even though more than six decades have passed since Guru Dutt died, and his statue shows some signs of wear and tear, the perfectionist, passionate filmmaker lives on, not just through his timeless films, but in the hearts of residents of a small housing society that he had planned for his team members at Guru Dutt Films Pvt. Ltd.