saw pyaasa first which sorta disappointed me but then i watched this one just for the song 'waqt ne kiya'. for a modern day movie goer there is no sanctity attached to this stalwart of yester years, it follows that no offense whatsoever is intended in my casual language. about the movie, it is difficult to realise that so many scenes seem 'old' because these have been excessively used/copied/parodied/improvised/destroyed in the past 50 years in various languages. but there are so many scenes where the intensity of the passion of Guru Dutt as a film maker is unmatched. Waheeda Rehman was blissful in pyaasa and is even more so in this one..one word 'love her' !! if you were to watch this movie as a critic, you will appreciate it well but if you were to watch it as a casual man, it is heart wrenching. yet, i prefer the latter.

Reading some of the reviews makes me think that this film needs more context for an American audience and may not be fully appreciated if it is the first classic Bollywood movie one watches, but if you are interested in classic cinema (not just classic Bollywood) it really must be seen.Yes, Sinha's wife and her family are caricatures, yes Rocky's character is ridiculous, yes the beginning and end are melodramatic (no more so than many other classics, though), but everything else is artistry. Sinha and Shanti both have excellent, minimalist dialogue and express themselves well through body language and facial expression without becoming caricatures themselves. Maybe I'm reading too much into it but I think perhaps the contrast between the flat portrayal of the anti-film characters and the realistic portrayal of the main characters is more than just an attempt to please the audience and is rather an attempt to focus on the true drama. As if to say, yes, the protagonists are suffering because of these problems, but it is their suffering that we want you to look at, not the situation that caused it.The technical quality of the prints available (both picture and audio) are somewhat poor at times but for me this did not detract from my experience. I can see why it was a failure in the box office at the time. It wasn't the type of story the mass market generally wants, and especially not at the time it was made, but it is also clear why it is now considered a masterwork.

This is really a milestone in world cinema - not just Indian cinema. The story, the lyrics, songs, music, photography, editing and above all class act. Everyone has poured their heart in this film. This indeed is a poetry in form of a film. Though the topic is very depressing it but reflects reality from eyes of a defeatist, maybe the only flaw I see in the picture, and perhaps the reason why the film never saw a good box office record. However, it may have a lot to do with personal struggles of Guru Dutt at the time of making of this film. Only if the film had been about triumph of human struggle to overcome all odds, outcomes could have been different. A lot of credit is given to Guru Dutt alone, however I feel the classic nature of this film has a lot to do with contribution of everyone - the music is touching today as I suppose it might have been then. One who has never seen Wahida Rehman in younger days is dazed at her beauty and innocence. Guru Dutt himself looks rather handsome. Kaifi Azmi's lyrics are just inimitable. Photography is great - considering it was done in 50a. I came up with the DVD by chance and I'm now going to see more of Guru Dutt's work. I not for a moment want to deny Guru Dutt his share of glory, however one must also acknowledge other geniuses who made this movie a classic!

Why is Guru Dutt hailed as one of the all time best directors in the world? See this film and you'll get an answer. Guru Dutt never got his due from the audience or the critics when he was alive. After he died, he was suddenly hailed as this best thing to have happened to Hindi film industry. And today, he is universally regarded as one of the best Hindi film directors. This film too is resplendent with that same irony, hypocrisy and tragedy. There are films and then there is this. 'Kaagaz Ke Phool' is Guru Dutt's extremely personal and almost poetic take on the trials and tribulations of a life of fame and glamor; and especially the aftermath of it. Guru Dutt plays a successful director Ajay Sinha who is looking for a new face to cast as the leading lady in his next film. In the midst of all this, he has a strained marriage wherein his wife leaves him to live with her parents along with their daughter. On a certain rainy day, he meets a girl (Waheeda Rehman). They meet again in the studio. Immediately,Guru Dutt realizes that Waheeda's is THE face he had been looking for and promptly casts her in his next film. Eventually he falls in love ith her but she doesn't reciprocate. Meanwhile, he isn't allowed to eet his beloved daughter too through a court order. As a last straw, his next film is a colossal failure and he suddenly finds that the ones who pretended to be his well-wishers and friends now seem to hate and ignore him. Thus Waheeda, his discovery, goes on to become a successful star while he begins his downward spiral into the deep darkness of ignominy. Subsequently and ironically, after many years, he dies on the same director's chair It is not a perfect film by any means. The screenplay is sometimes indulgent and probably isn't as good as say Guru Dutt's 'Pyaasa' (his other classic). Plus, the whole track involving Johnny Walker is somewhat irrelevant to the film and hence could have been shortened. However, it was incidentally, India's first film to be shot in Cinemascope and hence makes good use of technique but essentially KPK remains a very humane film which moves us without being preachy or overtly sentimental. SD Burman's haunting music and Kaifi Azmi's poignant lyrics add to the mood of this filmIronically, the film was a commercial disaster upon its release (eerily similar to the protagonist Sinha's last film). So, the claims of it being an Autobiographical film also started being made. But, I think it is a case of life imitating art than vice- versa. Having said that it is a fact that Guru Dutt died shortly after making this film and thus KKP remains his last masterpiece and I think its commercial failure can be attributed to one of those rare occasions when the AUDIENCE got it wrong as the film may have been ahead of its time and has since been widely considered to be one of the best and most important films made in India The obvious comparisons with Fellini's 8 ½ are to be expected but to my mind they are unwarranted. Both were different films made for very different audiences. This is a great film in its own right- one of the best Hindi films ever- a bona-fide masterpiece by the prodigiously talented albeit flawed genius called Guru Dutt