Guide is a transcendental movie about finding (or losing) your way, and finding it again. At one level it is purely corporeal about life's search for fame, fortune and love; but at a meta-level it asks: what are we really searching for? Just fame, fortune, love? Or is it altruism, God, or something even bigger than that? Guide looks for answers to nothing less that the deepest and toughest questions of life.
Guide is about the many paradoxical situations of life. A village looks for guidance from a man, who is lost himself. A girl, who is trying to find freedom from her seedy background, finds imprisonment in a loveless marriage. A woman and a man dream of a successful future together, but are disenchanted and separated by the very same future they built together. Guide explores these situations subtly and honestly. True to reality, life itself is the protagonist and life itself is the villain; and the characters are but parts of a universe that is trying to comprehend itself through them.
Unlike much of Bollywood fare, this movie has rich characters and strong character development. The main characters truly evolve through the movie. Vijay Anand's dialogs are excellent and express emotions as honestly as few movies have. A few scenes really stand out one where Rosie and Raju, penniless, pretend to be a famous artiste and her eager fan; another where Rosie, sadly alienated from her lover says "there is a wall around my heart, and it seems like nothing can reach inside it not happiness, not sadness".
Last but not least, the songs are a delight and they only enhance the depth of the story. When Rosie tastes, for a day, the freedom she craves, we sing with her "I feel like living again". On our journey with Raju and Rosie, when they feel the cozy warmth of love and togetherness, we feel like singing "the colors of our dreams are now the same"; when they feel sad loneliness, we lament "the day ends, but alas, the night lasts forever".
Guide is a great human drama, but what elevates it to an epic is the mystical undercurrent to the story. Sophisticated and progressive for a Bollywood movie made in 1965, Guide is a timeless masterpiece and very few Bollywood movies made before or since come close in scope, ambition and depth. It swept most major awards in 1965 (except, shockingly, for Best Music which was won by Suraj), and will probably be a strong contender for these awards in any other year.
Guide is about the many paradoxical situations of life. A village looks for guidance from a man, who is lost himself. A girl, who is trying to find freedom from her seedy background, finds imprisonment in a loveless marriage. A woman and a man dream of a successful future together, but are disenchanted and separated by the very same future they built together. Guide explores these situations subtly and honestly. True to reality, life itself is the protagonist and life itself is the villain; and the characters are but parts of a universe that is trying to comprehend itself through them.
Unlike much of Bollywood fare, this movie has rich characters and strong character development. The main characters truly evolve through the movie. Vijay Anand's dialogs are excellent and express emotions as honestly as few movies have. A few scenes really stand out one where Rosie and Raju, penniless, pretend to be a famous artiste and her eager fan; another where Rosie, sadly alienated from her lover says "there is a wall around my heart, and it seems like nothing can reach inside it not happiness, not sadness".
Last but not least, the songs are a delight and they only enhance the depth of the story. When Rosie tastes, for a day, the freedom she craves, we sing with her "I feel like living again". On our journey with Raju and Rosie, when they feel the cozy warmth of love and togetherness, we feel like singing "the colors of our dreams are now the same"; when they feel sad loneliness, we lament "the day ends, but alas, the night lasts forever".
Guide is a great human drama, but what elevates it to an epic is the mystical undercurrent to the story. Sophisticated and progressive for a Bollywood movie made in 1965, Guide is a timeless masterpiece and very few Bollywood movies made before or since come close in scope, ambition and depth. It swept most major awards in 1965 (except, shockingly, for Best Music which was won by Suraj), and will probably be a strong contender for these awards in any other year.