Poetry On Silverscreen..!!. Review on Guide - FilmFare Award 1966

Door Pahad Par Pani Baras Raha Hai

Badan Bheeg Gaya....Chaloon Badal Loon.

(Its raining far away in the mountains..

(My body is drenched, let me change it...)

Life goes on....when you wake up in your bed with a beautiful face by your side who looks upto to you with unbridled love in her eyes, you hardly have the time to think about your destiny. You are convinced that this is what your life is going to be...always. But strange are the ways of the one who sits up there and watches all of us. He smiles at your ignorance and then next time you wake up you see people throwing coins at you pitying you as a beggar. It's the same You, but everything around you is so different and you keep thinking that if this is a nightmare then was that a beautiful dream!

''Zindagi bhi ek Nasha hai dost...

Lekin Jab utarta hai....''

Guide makes you take a step out of your routine and leaves you stung with that uneasy but ultimate realization that everything is after all transient. But no one who would have sat through the first half of this movie would have guessed that he would go home not thinking about how beautiful Waheeda Rehman looked in the movie but with his eyes wet and a new insight into his own soul.

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Based on the novel by RK Narayan with the same name, Guide is a story of a popular tourist guide Raju (Dev Anand) who is a man of words. He is called upon on their visit to Udaipur by mismatched couple in an impotent old aged archaeologist Marco (Kishore Sahu) and Rosy (Waheeda Rehman) - a young, vivacious and beautiful daughter of a prostitute. The indifference and adultery of Marco causes the already disillusioned Rosy to attempt suicide and is saved by Raju who then inspires her to live her passion of dancing.

They both fall in love and she abandons Marco and starts living with Raju in his small house which becomes a cause of embarrassment for Raju's mother and his friend who abandon him. Raju introduces Rosy as a very talented dancer to the world - Nalini who soon shoots to fame and money. But as they say, a man should never live off woman's money. Disillusioned by Raju's new found addictions in gambling, drinking and splurging of her money, Rosy loses her respect and love for Raju. Raju, utterly insecure with Rosy's attitude, ends up in jail for a forgery case - a case where Rosy could have saved him.

After serving his sentence Raju decides not to return to his hometown and reaches a remote village after wandering around. People there start considering him as a holy man and he ends up in a trap where the blindly trusting people want him to fast for 12 days to cause rain.

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Now this is the part of the film where it shoots itself into a different orbit altogether - from being a great movie to a milestone in Hindi cinema. Raju against all his common sense and will is caught up in a dilemma of upholding poor unsuspecting people's trust or go back to that old beautiful days which beckon him. Dev Anand at his ultimate best -The character he plays has such complex shades, from being a smooth talking tourist guide to a person who carries the burden of trust of lakhs of people. The scene where a poor village couple keeps their diseased child in his lap for healing and he prays with tears in eyes - ''Inke Dukh Har Le Ram. Ye mujhe tera bachcha samajhte hain''..my god...that's a heart wrenching scene. You almost unbelievingly watch the screen when Raju attains Nirvana. Against all traditions and conventions you see a utterly romantic movie end in the way this does, and come to think of it - there could not have been a better ending to this masterpiece. A tourist guide who showed people the way to salvation.

SD Burman has delivered the best music of his life. ''Wahan Kaun Hai Tera Musafir'' in his own voice remains my all time favourite. Probably the two most romantic melodies you will hear in ''Tere Mere Sapne'' and ''Gata Rahe Mera Dil''. Waheeda stuns with her elegance in the marathon ''Piya Tose Naina Lage Re'' and ''Mo Se Chal Kiye Jaye''

This movie was considered to be ahead of its times when it was released because of its novel treatment and a very unconventional story.

Guide, according to me is THE BEST movie ever made in Hindi Cinema. It’s a poetry on silverscreen written by unparalleled cinematography. I watch it every now and then to relive those overwhelming emotions.