abhishek mitra
This movie goes on to show what a real poet/artist (basically any truly creative person) should strive to be: Honest above anything else.False recognition, monetary rewards and hypocrisy was banging loudly at the door of art and literature world at the time. This is still true and ever increasing as I see it. Guru Dutt successfully brought out all these in this amazing movie bound together with songs, which are as much rich in terms of lyrics as much in melody.Human emotions and ethics are brought into play to showcase the difficulties an honest artist faces in this two-faced world. This movie also tries to uncover the true nature of love.This is a must watch for everyone - creative or not.
Ravi Singh
Pyaasa Was Directed By Guru Dutt...It Is Considered As The Finest Work By Guru Dutt...After Making Thriller Like Baazi , Adventure Drama Like Baaz, Comedy Like Mr & Mrs 55 ...The Next Was Pyaasa ...The Story Is Well Written...Script Was Written By Abrar Alvi ...A Heart Touching Script With Every Character Written With High Definition & With Great Importance...Details Were Described Very Effectively....As Per Acting ... Guru Dutt Wanted To Cast Dilip Kumar For The Role Of Vijay But Things Didn't Worked Out So He Took The Responsibility ...Guru Dutt Acted Quite Superbly As Vijay A Struggling Poet Whose Work Is Unknown, Unemployed Fellow Struggling To Make His Mark On the Society...He Is Betrayed By Everyone Apart From His Mother...Mala Sinha As Meena Was Very Promising...She Was A Fine Actor Those Days...A Lady Who Marries Some One Else For Better Tomorrow...Giving Less Value To Love...Rehman As Mr Ghosh Gives A Fine Performance ...A Typical Indian Husband...But The Star Of The Movie Is Waheeda Rehman Gulabo A Prositute With Heart Of Gold...Gulabo & Vijay Have Great Chemistry ...Gulabo Feels The Pain Of Vijay ...So She Is The Helping Hand For Vijay ...Rest Of The Movie Is A Epic Drama...Music Of Movie Was Composed By S.D Burman....Every Song In The Movie Is Gem Of Indian Cinema ...From Romantic Duet "Hum Aapki Aankhon Mein" By Rafi & Geeta Dutt..."Jaane Woh Kaise Log The" By Hemant Kumar To Heart Touching " Yeh Duniya Agar Mil Bhi Jayen Toh Kya Hai" By The Legend Md.Rafi ...Every Song Is Story Telling ...Sad Part Of The Movie Is That ...The Story Is Very Depressing ...Life Is Not Easy ...The Struggling Of People To Survive Is Shown ...How Money Is More Important Than Friendship ...How Love Has Less Value Than Money...How Poor Suffers In The Society...Overall A Must Watch Movie ...Pyaasa Is Considered The Greatest Movie Ever Made In Indian Cinema ...Everything Is Perfect About Pyaasa...My Favorite Guru Dutt Movie Is Pyaasa..Because Of This Movie I Saw All The Guru Dutt Movies..So Please Watch ...If You Have Not Seen Pyaasa...Than You Have Missed The Finest Work Of Indian Cinema.
sashank_kini-1
A despondent, weary, aloof, dreamy and penniless poet Vijay (Guru Dutt) sublimates his feelings into poetry, which is turned down by his licentious publishers. In the first scene, he sings about nature- the sweet spring, the flowers, the bees. When his visit at the publishing house turns unfruitful with the publisher telling that he must've thrown the papers, Vijay frantically searches for them, wrecking the entire place till he finds his papers in the bin. Now if I were the poet, that too a struggling one, I would've certainly been more furious. Anyway, Vijay takes his work and ambles the town till his mother and a boy get hold off him and plead him to come home. 2 ladies are shown shamelessly gossiping in loud tones about Vijay. At home, he is reviled and ostracized by his irascible brothers, while his mother helplessly cries for him. His brother sold Vijay's poetry file to a raddiwala for 10 annas, and so the poet goes to the friendly raddiwala who tells him that a girl had bought them. A dolorous Vijay wanders at night only to be allured by the warbles of an enigmatic lady (Waheeda) who takes him to a brothel ( yes, she is a prostitute). The lady has his poems but in a fit of rage drives him away only to search for his whereabouts once she knows he is the writer. Vijay also crosses paths with his college-love (Mala) who is now the unhappy wife of his new boss. When Vijay loses hope after his mother's demise and the sorrows around him, he tries to commit suicide. A case of mistaken identity, declares him as dead while he is locked in an institution, his poems now selling in millions. this sorry state of affairs makes him a changed, stoical man who takes a beating and starts a new life. Pyaasa has some fine poetry in it, simple yet profound. the one bad apple is 'Sar Jo tera Chakraye' an out-of-place song just to attract masses. If Guru Dutt were completely committed to this project, he would've excluded this incongruous, digressive material. The standout ones are the at the college reunion, the sad song at Vijay's boss' home, the drunken requiem at the chawl and the one towards the end in the auditorium. All are purposeful, tragic and heartfelt. The dream duet with it's Singing in the Rain-esque magic is lovely, mellifluous and romantic. So, songs are in overall a near success. In terms of story, excess stretch the movie by almost 15 minutes. The strange love between Sattar and Juhi went nowhere. the maxim 'Money cam buy the world' is adeptly told here, but the end just stretched to absurdity. The climatic scene at the auditorium could've been combined with the next, making it a single scene ( since Vijay already knows of his brothers' hypocrisy ) and ended it the same way with the ladies. A movie has to snag it's build-ups so that it can smash it in the climax. The two climaxes were unnecessary. But, the movie is quite personal and reflective, as many writers mourn their own failures in their works, and resort to drinking and such. I felt that Vijay should've embraced Meena before leaving her since there was such closeness between them. Gulab's character was well-etched, as she professes her selfless love for Vijay. However, the end was too filmy and impractical, since she leaves with him without taking anything with her or even informing her friend Juhi ( again, the scene could've ended with Juhi's affirmation and and embrace). The acting is a positive aspect in the film. Guru shows his pain and despair in the beginning and stoicism in the end with finesse and naturalism. Waheeda is enlightening, pouring passion, flare, remorse, love in her role. Mala however is over-sentimental, always covering her face with her hand and not living up to her role. Walker's caricature of Sattar fails when he sings, and succeeds when he talks with Vijay. Mr. Ghosh's antagonism can't be blamed to a certain extent since Vijay and Meera being in one locked room can (and should) be disturbing for Mala's husband. The actors who play the brothers as well as Vija's male friend do get some heat with their greedy behavior. Props for them. The movie is a brave excess, and would've been miles better without the redundancies; a elegy chronicling the Weltschmerz circumscribing a common man who, in this case, is a poet. Yet, Pyaasa quenches the viewer's thirst with it's aching poetries and unaffected performances by GD and WR.
Jag85
A musical melodrama from the Hindi film industry of Bombay, now popularly known as "Bollywood", although it wasn't called that back then. Well this movie is certainly a lot better than any of the more recent "Bollywood" musicals I've seen, and it's probably even one of the best musicals I've ever seen from anywhere. What really stands out in Pyaasa in particular is how the music is often used to express serious themes and social critiques, which is something I've rarely ever seen in a musical. The ending was also quite unexpected and very moving. The last few scenes and dialogues in particular were powerful and had a lot of meaning to them.The star of the show here is Guru Dutt, who was not only the director and producer, but also starred in the film as the protagonist Vijay (a struggling poet from the slums), comparable to the versatility of Orson Welles in Citizen Kane. The two main actresses in the film, Mala Sinha as the married ex-girlfriend Meena and especially Waheeda Rehman as the prostitute Gulabo, were also impressive. In some ways, the story has some similarities to that of Moulin Rouge! (2001) but even better than that in my opinion. The music by S. D. Burman and his son R. D. Burman also has a timeless feel to it. I would highly recommend this movie to musical fans, or even if one is not a musical fan, I still think it's worth checking out.9/10
