Guru Dutt Padukone was born on July 9, 1925, into a Konkani-speaking lower middle-class family. He grew up in Calcutta, where as a teenager he learnt dance under Uday Shankar. But the young Guru Dutt preferred to work in cinema, and in the late 1940s joined the celebrated Prabhat Studios in Pune as an assistant, then choreographer. In 1951, he made his first film, Baazi, thanks to Dev Anand, a close friend from the Prabhat days. In the next decade, Guru Dutt directed or produced movies in nearly every genre: suspense (Baazi, Jaal, CID), costume drama (Baaz), Muslim romance (Chaudhvin ka Chand), light-hearted comedy (Aar Paar, Mr & Mrs 55), melodrama (Pyaasa, Kaagaz ke Phool), and period film (Sahib Bibi aur Ghulam). While working on Baazi, Guru Dutt decided to be the film’s hero—not an unusual decision, for other directors like V. Shantaram and Raj Kapoor had shown how one could own a film studio, and produce, direct, as well as act in one’s own productions.