Guide (film)

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Movie
Original title Guide
Country of production India
original language Hindi , English
Publishing year 1965
length 183 minutes
Rod
Director Vijay Anand
script Vijay Anand , RK Narayan (book)
production Dev Anand
music Sachin Dev Burman
camera Fali Mistry
cut Vijay Anand , Babu Sheikh
occupation

Guide is a hit 1965 Hindi film directed by Vijay Anand based on the critically acclaimed book The Guide (1958) by RK Narayan .

action

Raju is a tourist guide by profession and makes a living guiding tourists through historical sites.

One day, the rich archaeologist Marco comes to town. He wants to do some research in the caves outside the city and hires Raju as his guide. While Marco is busy with the caves, his wife Rosie sits at home. Although he bought her out of prostitution, he has nothing left for her, he neither loves her, nor can he share her passion for dancing. So Rosie only serves as his model wife. Rosie meets Raju, who shows her how to assert himself. The two fall in love and Rosie separates from her husband.

After Raju's mother learns of his affair with Rosie, she leaves him. His friend and driver also abuses and harms him by letting his relationships play out. As a result, Raju loses his job and feels the hostility of the townspeople.

Unimpressed by these setbacks, Raju helps Rosie work on her dance career, as a result of which she quickly rose to fame. However, with the money he earned, Raju falls into bad habits such as gambling and drinking. One day he was even caught writing a check forged with Rosie's signature. As a result, he has to serve several years in prison. On the day of his release, Rosie and his mother want to take him home, but are told that Raju was released six months early due to his good behavior.

After his release, Raju sets off alone. A farmer named Bhola finds him sitting alone in a temple and mistaking him for a saint. Bhola has a problem with his sister and so Raju convinces her to obey her brother. Impressed by this event, Bhola spreads the news in the whole village and everyone considers him a saint. The farmers shower Raju with gifts and tell him about their problems.

Initially, Raju enjoys "demigod status". He gets food, a refuge and the necessary things in life without having to work hard for it. The village temple becomes his residence and Raju begins to behave like a true saint. He grows a beard, dresses accordingly and is now called "Swami Raju". Raju slowly gets to know the problems and plagues of his students and begins to be interested in their lives. That is why he also teaches the village children and provides services that ensure a better and easier life.

When a drought hit the whole region and the villagers expected the worst, these Raju asked to let it rain. At first Raju resists this idea and confesses to Bhola that he is an ordinary person who even has a criminal record. But even the confession cannot dissuade the residents from their belief. So Raju reluctantly begins to fast. During the fast, Raju undergoes a transformation and the longer he fasts, the greater his fame becomes. People from all over the world come to see him and be blessed by him. Rosie also hears from Raju and visits him with his mother and friend. Now Raju has regained everything that he had previously lost.

Raju's health is not in good shape and he is concerned about the meaning of life. On the one hand there is Rosie and his mother and the chance to return to his old life. On the other hand, there is a reason not to stop the fast, which he ultimately chooses. When it finally starts to rain after 12 days, everyone runs out. Raju hears the rain shower, collapses and dies exhausted.

background

The film begins with Raju's release from prison; Raju's past is told as a flashback.

Narayan, the author of the English-language novel, distanced himself from this film, which was also attacked by others because of its thematic change in the story - in the novel Rosie was a Devadasi .

Guide was the first Indian-US-American collaboration in the film and was published in the USA in 1965 in an English-language version that differed in content and was only 120 minutes long. Director, producer and co-writer for this version was Tad Danielewski ; the writer Pearl S. Buck was also involved in the script. The English version introduced new characters and expanded the role of a bitchy US television reporter. One of the new scenes is one in the US embassy in Delhi. In contrast to the Indian version, which in Pathé Color was shot, used the American Eastman Color .

music

song Singer
Kaaton Se Kheech Ke Lata Mangeshkar
Din Dhal Jaaye Mohammed Rafi
Gaata Rahe Mera Dil Kishore Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar
Kya Se Kya Ho Gaya Mohammed Rafi
Piya Tose Naina Laage Re Lata Mangeshkar
Saiyaan Beimaan Lata Mangeshkar
Tere Mere Sapne Mohammed Rafi
Hey ram Manna Dey
Megh De Sachin Dev Burman
Wahan Kaun Hai Tera Sachin Dev Burman

Shailendra wrote the lyrics .

Awards

Filmfare Award 1966

Nominations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ so by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak in the essay Feminism in Decolonization: Once Again a Leap into the Postcolonial Banal (1991)
  2. ↑ Ashish Rajadhyaksha, Paul Willemen in Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinema , pp. 384 f.

Web links