Art & Entertainment

The Most Popular Film

<i>Guide</i> (1965)

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The Most Popular Film
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It’s easy to see why Guide is so popular a musical. Every song in the film, be it Aaj phir jeene ki tamanna hai, Tere mere sapne, Din dhal jaaye, Gaata rahe meradil, Piya tose, Mose chhal kiye ja, Kya se kya ho gaya, Allah megh de or Wahaan kaun haitera, holds its own as a melody, has a life beyond its celluloid innings. Just about everything in each song—the tune, lyrics and singing—comes together in perfect harmony. Ironical then that S.D. Burman should have lost the Filmfare trophy that year to Shankar Jaikishen forSooraj

Guide’s songs work cinematically as well, integrating perfectly with the film’s theme. The romance between Raju guide and dancer Rosie, the various facets in their life’s journey, are marked by the songs, be it the joy of love in Gaata rahe or the pain in Din dhal jaaye. Guide also reinforces the widely-held view that besides GuruDutt, director Vijay Anand was the country’s best in terms of songpicturisation. He made great use of the Udaipur locales, especially in Aajphir... in the famous shot of Waheeda dancing along the palace parapet, a rare, rebellious song in which a Hindi film heroine actually celebrates her escape from a restrictive husband. Kya se kya, shot with Raju caught in nets, visually recreated a state of emotional entrapment and Tere mere sapne is said to have been canned by Anand in four shots. 

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