‘Give Bharat Ratna to Guru Dutt posthumously’

BHOPAL: Legendary film maker Guru Dutt’s son wants his father should be given Bharat Ratna award. It would be nice, said Arun Dutt, considering the contribution of Guru Dutt to the Indian cinema, the government should consider giving him the Bharat Ratna posthumously. “His (Guru Dutt’s) films are ranked among all-time greats and his contribution to cinema is recognized the world over. The government has also issued a postal stamp on him. I personally feel the government should consider giving him Bharat Ratna,” said Arun Dutt, who was in Bhopal to promote Guru Dutt Films Acting Academy in the city on Friday. However he emphasized, “It is up to government to decide on the issue.”First and foremost a director and producer, Guru Dutt’s film Pyaasa (1957) is considered one of cinema’s all-time classics and he was in a league of select film makers who could integrate art and commercial cinema together. In 2009, a series A Heart as Big as the World: The films of Guru Dutt was held at New York’s Lincoln Centre, the retrospective on the works of Dutt, a first for a Hindi filmmaker at the centre. “If he (Guru Dutt) was alive today he would have been disappointed with all this technology,” said Arun, who started out as an editor and assistant to the film maker, Vijay Anand. “Indian cinema lacks subject matter and it cannot be replaced with technological innovations in film making,” he said. “Colourising any of his (Guru Dutt’s) film like Pyaasa, Kaagaz Ke Phool, Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam is out of the question,” said Arun Dutt. “None of the films that have been colourized have been commercially successful. However, the only one of his films to be colourized might be Chaudhvin Ka Chand,” he reluctantly said.Soft spoken and articulate Arun Dutt answered nuisances of one and all. At a distance was his daughter, Gouri, 23, seemingly a family coming together to promote the legacy of a legend, after an intermission of a few decades.“It not easy being grandchildren of Guru Dutt. My sister is already into filmmaking and I am into acting,” said Gauri, a little hesitant at first. “People are in awe at times when they learn who I am, but what means most to me is that he was my grandfather,” she added. Gauri and her sister Karuna have both worked for film maker Anurag Kashyap.