Guide (1966)
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content.
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The objective of this article is not so much as to talk about the film--about which there are thousands of articles anyway--but to set the year of the film's release right, even if that means disagreeing with the whole world. Guide was released in 1966, in April 1966 at that, and NOT in 1965, even if the whole world says otherwise (and it does).
This page will also lead you to the only two publicly available video clippings from the English version of the film.
Of course, this page has the usual details as well.
Contents |
Guide (Hindi) was released in 1966, NOT 1965
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 rival during that time of the year was Suraj, both for box office collections and for music sales. (Baharon phool barsao from Suraj beat Gaata rahe mera dil from Guide to the top spot on Binaca Geet Mala in 1966. The biggest box office hit of that year, Phool aur Patthar, did not have songs in that league.)
Guide's Calcutta premiere was held on April 6, 1966.
Proof?
Mobile The Times of India reminds us that ‘On April 6,1966, her birthday, [Suchitra] Sen attended the premiere of Guide in Kolkata.’
More proof?
Ranjan Das Gupta The Times of India adds: ‘April 6,1966.A crowd of about 1,000 enthusiastic fans were waiting outside a city five-star to greet their idol,Dev Anand.The evergreen hero was in Kolkata,along with brother director Vijay Anand and leading lady Waheeda Rehman,for the premiere of Guide.As Dev saab came out to greet the crowd,a female fan threw an autograph book to him,which he caught.Much to her delight, he signed With Love, Dev Anand and returned the book to her.He also made it a point to visit Paradise and Lotus cinemas where Guide was being screened to packed houses.
‘Kolkata was Dev saabs favourite city to premiere his films.’
Of course, it was: because Guide's Bombay premiere took place a week, indeed 9 days, later. Calcutta was (and remains) India's biggest city. In 1966 its economy was also perhaps the biggest, though Bombay had made giant strides by then. It had India's largest number of cinema lovers--certainly of quality cinema. Therefore, if Anand chose Calcutta it was the logical thing to do. However, in his case emotions rather than logic would have prevailed. The Bengalis loved him--partly because he was unabashedly close to S.D. Burman and Kishore Kumar, and used their talents in most of his film--and later the genius of R.D. Burman. Therefore, too, Anand would have preferred to premiere his films in Calcutta,
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)
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 certainly not released till April 1966.)
Box office performance
SURESH KOHLI, The Hindu reminds us: 'Like many other movies that were rated classics, Guide was also declared a flop when it first premiered in New Delhi in the presence of the entire cabinet sans the Prime Minister' [Mrs Indira Gandhi had become PM on 24 January 1966]. Dev Anand would later talk about how difficult it had been for him to find buyers for a film that revolved around adultery.
The film's publicists would, in April and May 1966, place almost-daily advertisements in the major newspapers mentioning how much the film had earned at the box office, especially vis-a-vis its rival of the moment, Suraj, in order to tell the public that the film was not a flop.
The fact is that the film was a superhit among the educated middle classes, but did not do well with the masses. In all, it was a success but not a major hit--never mind what trade analysts say with hindsight. If they can't remember the year that Guide was released in how can they remember its box office performance? IbosNetwork.com and BoxOfficeIndia.com say that Guide was, respectively, the no.4 or no.5 hit of 1965. At least there is unanimity that Guide was not at the top in terms of commercial success. Both agree that Suraj was the biggest hit of the first half of 1966--to be overtaken by the phenomenal Phool Aur Pathar later in the year. Therefore, the nervousness of Guide's makers vs. Suraj in April and May 1966 was well founded.
Awards
Guide swept the Filmfare Awards in 1967, for films released in the year 1966.
Dev Anand: Best Actor
Waheeda Rehman: Best Actress
Vijay Anand: Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Dialogue Writer;
Fali Mistry: Best Cinematography,
R.K. Narayan: Best Story
S.D. Burman: Best Music. (On Binaca Geet Mala 1966, Shanker-Jaikishen's Suraj pipped Guide to the number 1 spot.)
Lata Mangeshkar was nominated for Best Female Playback but missed the award .
The various directors who were considered
The English version
Indpaedia has located a 37-second clip in English from The Guide (1966) and, better still, a 3.16 minute clip in English from The Guide (1966)
SURESH KOHLI: The Hindu gives us many interesting facts:
Guide was to be made in English in partnership with Nobel Laureate Pearl S. Buck with the Polish director Tad Danielewski calling the shots. By the time star producer Dev Anand returned to India, after signing the deal in California, he had also decided to make it in Hindi. And by the time Narayan had given his consent, Buck and Danielewski had landed in Bombay.
Chetan Anand was to direct the Hindi version. And after much money had flowed down the Udaipur lake differences between the two directors (Chetan Anand and Tad Danielewski) brought work to a halt. Chetan, meanwhile, got the much-awaited permission from the army for the shooting of his dream project, Haqeeqat, and a plausible excuse to abandon the project.
Desperate to get shooting underway, the star-producer approached another Navketan prodigy, Raj Khosla (by now a successful director, an erstwhile assistant to Guru Dutt) to wield the megaphone. But due to an earlier misunderstanding the heroine, Waheeda Rehman threatened to walk out of the project if Khosla was to direct the movie. She had been chosen over various other contenders for her proficiency in classical Indian dance. Waheeda has since often cited Rosie in Guide as her most memorable role.
At this point, the star-producer decided to rope in younger brother Vijay ‘Goldie’ Anand, who had already proved his mettle.
Goldie raised doubts about the acceptance of the infidelity angle. He also outright rejected Danielewski’s screenplay and approach to filmmaking and agreed to direct the film on the condition that he would rework the screenplay, and shoot the film after the English version had been shot.
The English version disappeared without a trace [Not quite. At least one full print survives and was screened at Cannes in 2007. Indpaedia has, elsewhere in this article, given links to about four minutes from the English version.]
Goldie simply converted the tragic hopeless climax into an elevated scene of redemption, which in a way also became the saving grace, despite Narayan’s later disapproval of it. It had a running time of 183 minutes. But one dare not miss a single shot, or excuse oneself from a song.
It was, probably, the first time in an Indian film that huge crowds actually participated in the climax.
Guide: Little known facts
8 things you didn't know about Guide
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:
The English version of Guide, grammatically called The Guide, written by Pearl S Buck and directed by American Tad Danielewski, never saw the light of day till it was screened at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, 42 years after it was made.
However, in case Indpaedia readers would like to see a 37-second clip in English from The Guide (1966) or, better still, a 3.16 minute clip in English from The Guide (1966), now you know where to click. Do note how the dialogues have not merely been translated into English, they have been transformed to appeal to an English-speaking First World audience that a) would not understand the Indian-style humour of t Hindi-Urdu Guide, and b) sees India as a nation that, for instance, needs foreign exchange through tourism.
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.
The Telegraph, UK, on Guide
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.
Cast and crew
Crew
Director
Vijay Anand
Writers
R.K. Narayan ... (novel)
Vijay Anand ... (dialogues)
Pearl S. Buck ... (English version)
Producer
Dev Anand
Music
Sachin Dev Burman ... )
Rahul Dev Burman ... assistant to music director
Playback singers
Sachin Dev Burman
Manna Dey
Kishore Kumar ...
Lata Mangeshkar
Mohammad Rafi
Lyrics
Shailendra ...
Cinematography
Fali Mistry
Film Editing
Vijay Anand and Babu Sheikh
Art Direction
Ram Yedekar
Costume designer
Bhanu Athaiya ...
Cast
Dev Anand / Raju Guide
Waheeda Rehman/ Rosie Marco aka Nalini
Leela Chitnis Raju's Mother
Kishore Sahu Marco
Anwar Hussain Ghaffoor
Ulhas Raju's maternal uncle
Gajanan Jagirdar Bhola
Rashid Khan Joseph
Praveen Paul Bhola's Wife
Mridula Rani Laxmibai
Purnima
Sheela R.
Krishan Dhawan Inspector Girdhari
Prem Sagar
Levy Aaron Dilip
Yash Johar
