Revision as of 20:36, 9 November 2014

Guide

Guide was released in 1966, on the 15th April to be precise. Proof 1: Read Indian Express’ caption of the above photograph: ‘Dev Anand at the gala premiere of Navketan International film 'Guide' held at Maratha Mandir in Bombay chats with Mahrashtra's Minister for Tourism Homi J Taleyakhan. The minister is flanked by Mrs Taleyarkhan on his left and Dev Anand's wife Kalpana Kartik on his right. Also seen in the picture is MD Chaudhury education and Forests minister. (Source: Express archive photo on 15.04.1966)’ [1]

EVERY website—obviously quoting each other-- and many books say that Guide is a 1965 film. In fact it was released in the spring of 1966.

Its Calcutta premiere was held on April 6, 1966. Its rival during that time of the year was Suraj, both for box office collections and for music sales.

The Indian Express photograph of its Bombay premiere is dated '15.04.1966.' Hence the photo was taken that day or the previous day.

Binaca Geet Mala has Guide songs in its 1966 list. (See Binaca Geet Mala 1966: greatest hits) A Google search for ‘1967 Filmfare awards’ reveals this. The article that turns up at no.1 is from our favourite website, Wikipedia, and the one at no.3 is from another much-loved website, YouTube. Both contradicts all other entries on that otherwise indispensable online encyclopædia Guide featured in the Filmfare awards distributed in 1967 for films released in the year 1966, and obviously not 1965

(The film probably got its censor certificate in the last week of December 1965. However, it was not released till April 1966.)

The object of this article is not so much as to talk about the film--of which there are thousand of articles anyway--but to set the date of the film's release right, even if that means disagreeing with the whole world.

The Telegraph, UK [2] wrote in 2011:

Even on Air India flights today, his celebrated film Guide (1965), based on the novel by RK Narayan, is inevitably included as part of the in-flight entertainment.

Guide was made simultaneously in two versions. The English version, made in collaboration with the American Pearl S Buck, stuck narrowly to the novel and proved a complete failure. Dev Anand’s younger brother, Vijay Anand, then produced a Hindi script which tells the melodramatic tale of a tour guide (Dev Anand) who gets caught up in the relationship of a married couple, is jailed for forgery, and on his release experiences a spiritual awakening.

When Guide was released in India it opened to unprecedented crowds. India’s entire cabinet (excepting Nehru) attended its premiere in Delhi and the film’s memorable songs – such as Gaata rahe mera dil; Tere mere sapne; Kya se kya ho gaya; Aaj phir jeene ki tamanna; Piya those naina; and Wahan kaun hai tera – are now established parts of popular Indian culture, known across the global Indian diaspora.

Dev Anand would often meet people who confessed to having seen Guide “more than 30 times” and in 2008 the film was featured as one of the “Cannes Classics” at the French film festival. When Dev Anand arrived on the red carpet, it was clear that he relished hogging the limelight again. He even threatened to return to the main competition with a new film.

Guide: Little known facts

8 things you didn't know about Guide

Gitanjali Roy, NDTV

Author R K Narayan hated the film adaptation of his acclaimed novel, but Guide (1965) is widely considered a masterpiece of Indian cinema and among the best work of its stars Dev Anand and Waheeda Rehman. S D Burman gave Bollywood some it's most beautiful music in this film. It was also one of the highlights of the portfolio of Navketan Films, the production house run by Dev Anand and his brothers Chetan and Vijay.

Did you know:

Guide was made in both Hindi and English. The Hindi version, directed by Vijay Anand, was a blockbuster. The English version, written by Pearl S Buck and directed by American Tad Danielewski, never saw light of day till it was screened at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, 42 years after it was made.

Vijay Anand was horrified by the story of Rosie, the dancer who leaves her husband, and Raju the guide who spirals through alcoholism and ends up a godman in a remote, parched village. He refused to direct the film twice, claiming it would be bad international PR for India. Dev Anand convinced him on the third try.

The famous song Aaj phir jeene ki tamanna hai, picturised on Waheeda Rehman, was shot in Rajasthan's Chittorgarh Fort. In one shot, a reflection of Waheeda is seen in a mirror. This was inspired by the legend of Alauddin Khilji catching a glimpse of Rani Padmini in the same mirror.

S D Burman, Dev Anand's favourite music director, fell seriously ill while he was working Guide's score. Dev Anand waited for S D Burman to recover instead of replacing him.

The first line of the song Din dhal jaye was written by Hasrat Jaipuri, the film's original lyricist. Dev and Vijay Anand didn't like the line and wanted Hasrat Jaipuri to drop it. He refused and quit. The brothers then asked Shailendra to take over as lyricist. Shailendra, unhappy with being their second choice, quoted a very high fee to which Dev and Vijay Anand agreed. He came up with the mukhda for Gaata rahe mera dil by the time the meeting was over. Ironically, Shailendra kept Hasrat Jaipuri's offending line and the song is considered a Bollywood classic.

Dev Anand met David Selznick when Guide premiered in New York. David Selznick wanted to cast Dev in a film to be shot in Kashmir, but died of a heart attack before the project could begin.

Chetan Anand, Dev and Vijay's elder brother, wanted them to cast Priya Rajvansh as Rosie the dancer because she spoke better English than Waheeda Rehman, and so would be better suited for the English version of the film. Dev Anand refused to cast anyone but Waheeda. Not only did Waheeda deliver a career-best performance, she also improved her English with some help from Pearl S Buck.

Yash Johar was the production controller for Navketan Films and served as assistant director for Guide. Karan Johar revealed decades later that his father tricked Dev Anand into filming a song sequence at what the actor thought was Rohtang Pass. Actually, it was many kilometres short of Rohtang Pass. The crew, tired of trekking up, had simply repainted a milestone to say Rohtang Pass 0.