Post by vanillasky on Nov 24, 2013 0:12:59 GMT
THE GUIDE -1965-INDIA -*DEV ANAND -WAHEEDA REHMAN -KISHORE SAHU -DIR -VIJAY ANAND
Review by Dr Usman Latif.
A SPIRITUALITY ENCASED WITHIN A MOCK-EGO
Waheeda Rehman is perfectly cast as Rosy ,an amateur dancer married to an old boring archaeologist,played by the eccentric KIishore sahu in an unhappy sham unison ,
on one of their explorative trips to the mystical sites mshe meets a flamboyant and rather handsome young guide raju [dev anand ],and they find romance and love in each others arms leading to a unconventional relationship between them where the husband refuses to divorce her in spite of her insistence and adultery becomes a virtue in disguise .
Nevertheless Raju and Rosy initiate a vaudeville dance troupe-theatre with rosy as the main attraction ,which becomes a super success and money and fame starts to pour in ,while you see how this changing the realtionship between the two lovers as rosy starts to despise the honest raju who has metamorphosised into her cheating manager almost cum pimp and is indulging in other vices while she is has become just a gold mine for his indulgence in his vices .
the philosophy of materialistic change ruining humane values is subtly but dramatically insinuated without any sermons and it becomes a revelation into human demeanour .
The love metamorphises into contempt and raju leaves in desperation and hearbreak marked as a petty criminal ,as he wanders the indian countryside as a tramp he is mistaken by some naive villagers as a wise soul in search of a purpose for life ,and a spiritual being and he genuinely finds a role for his redundant existence and soon he becomes a holy guru in earnest .
But the true test for his genuine devotion is yet to come as a divine challenge which will test his ego and examine and explore the human spirit in totality itself ,which is the vision enshrined in this well guided epic and the crux of the theme where sacrifice for divine ecstasy is pitted against self indulgence as faced by mortality in true existence .
The best movie ever made by Vijay Anand with the best screen dances ever performed on screen by Waheeda Rehman, who gives a power packed act as an adulteress celebrity diva ,and the definitive life time role for the charismatic Dev Anand as the guide-RAJU ,turned rogue ,PART PIMP and libertine tranformed into a spiritulist icon ,the hindi version of guide is an exceptional experience in celebration of the power of the divine human spirituality and motivation of redemption .
It has great set pieces embellished with fascinating exotic locales ,and a tremendous musical score by s.d.burman with 7 great songs and the best in choreography that can be achieved on screen by Bollywood .
But it is the spirit of the script and the buildup of the traditional three act play as narrated in cinematic language ,with a tremendous climax and denouement ,which makes this great cinema .
Pearl s. buck wrote the script for the English version which was directed seperately by an American and that was rather not so winsome and clumsy .
But the hindi version as directed and scripted by Vijay Anand is a different movie altogether and great cinema in all respects from the cosmic colour composition of the classical dance numbers to the soulful montages of a famine- stricken sun drenched rural india itself as it explores the issue of human ego and tries to curb self indulgence with immense control and eternal contentment with the help of age old spirituality,a trademark of the land celebrated for wisdom and culture and controversy .
A definitive Indian epic packed with a vision for the purity of human soul that is unique in cinema and very off the beaten track in its multilayered narrative which is as coherent as the complex characters that dwell within it's confines .