Plus: Reviews of ‘Maalik’, ‘Four Years Later’, ‘Superman’, Aankhon ki Gustakhiyan’, ‘Aap Jaisa Koi’ and ‘Mitti’. Here are this week's top reads from TheReel
Over a short life, Guru Dutt left an outsized impact on cinema. Some
of the eight films and four features that Guru Dutt directed and
produced in the 1950s and 1960s are still counted as classics,
particularly Pyaasa, Kaagaz Ke Phool, C.I.D. and Sahib, Bibi aur
Ghulam.
Guru Dutt’s centenary, which kicked off on July 9, is a perfect
opportunity to revisit the trenchant reviews of his films by Baburao
Patel in his Filmindia magazine. Patel had little good to say about
the films directed by Guru Dutt, dismissing the masterpiece Pyaasa as
a “confused product of a confused brain”, for instance.
As Nasreen Munni Kabir, who directed the definitive documentary on
Guru Dutt and wrote the fabulous book on his films, points out in her
essay, Pyaasa is “the Guru Dutt gift that keeps giving”.
Guru Dutt continues to influence filmmakers. Attempts have been made
to capture his tragic life on film, but are they doomed, given how he
laid himself bare in his movies?
It’s been a typically busy week, with releases in cinemas and on
streaming platforms. Here is Udita Jhunjhunwala’s thoughtful review of
the Indo-Australian series Four Years Later, starring Shahana Goswami
and Akshay Ajit Singh.
Rajkummar Rao tries on something new in Maalik – he plays a swaggering gangster.
Rajkummar Rao spoke to Scroll about what attracted to him the role,
and what is guiding his career choices at present.
Aankhon Ki Gustaakhiyan stars Vikrant Massey and Shanaya Kapoor in her acting debut.
James Gunn reboots the Superman character with David Corenswet in the lead role.
In Aap Jaisa Koi, R Madhavan and Fatima Sana Shaikh play laggards in
love.
Ishwak Singh plays a marketing maven turned struggling farmer in Mitti.
Aditya Sarpotdar’s ‘Unaad’ is the pick for the ‘Start the week with a
film’ series
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