Guddi (1971) :
Movie Review -
Well done, Hrishi Da, you have done it again and without any forceful conviction. The tittle of Guddi refers to Guddi and we all assume that the film is about Guddi the character but it is not. Yes, it's shocking but that's a fact and whoever didn't understand it hasn't actually understood the film.
From what i see, Guddi is half about Guddi and half about shattering insights of Cinema world. In the beginning it is just about Guddi and her teenage obsession about films and filmstars then it moves to the mission of making Guddi forget that infatuation and then the second half turns solid intense while showing an inside look at unknown facts of the film industry. Hrishikesh Mukherjee who himself was a member of cinema fraternity doesn't hesitate to glorify the off screen heroes ahead of on screen heroes. That's incredible.
There are minimum 7 to 8 scenes in the film which will stay with me for long time which doesn't happen often with me. In the begining there's scene when Guddi literally insults Dilip Kumar and Mughal E Azam (1960), and the next moment she expresses her madness for Hrishikesh Mukherjee's Anupama (1966) and Dharmendra and i was like, "Seriously? She is not even a movie fan, she understands nothing about cinema. Was Hrishi da advertising his own film or what?" After one or two furious moments i realised, no it's like that. May be it has a woman point of view for it because Mughal E Azam was more about Sacrifice and Anupama was about struggle for love. Yes, it made sense to me at least. One of the most memorable scene in the film is when Dharmendra shows then the burnt studio and recalls how many old classics films Bimal Roy made there and now people would never realised the importance of this premises after the renovation. Adding to the same scene he says, i feel very fake here in the cinema industry because audience only see the shining glamour not the darkness behind it. And the very next scene when Photographer literally smashes the media industry by using an example of a Prostitute. Stunning, indeed. Not to mention the transformation scenes of 'Guddi', there are plenty with emotional and matured sense.
Jaya Bhaduri debuted as an leading actress with this film and i must say she was very lucky. Her character was well refined, it also had different stages to show the variety of skills and undoubtedly Jaya handled it perfectly. She looked so cute in the beginning song at School and then the same teenage girl looked breathtaking in Saree. I can't say enough how sexy she looked in couple of scenes without sexy attires, yes you read it right i said Sexy only. Dharmendra plays an important and completely different role so well that i have no issues from him. Utpal Dutt is outstanding as Uncle and I wasn't expecting anything less than great from a great actor like him. In the naive character Samit Bhanja adds natural innocence to make it look even better. Vasant Desai's Music is decent excluding the copied songs but yes 'Humko Man Ki Shakti Dena' is definitely something more than decent.
Lastly, a thank you note to legend Hrishikesh Mukherjee who brought this innovative idea on screen and gave full justice to it. Although it is little unrealistic, it still has most of the portion falling in realism from where we can easily look forward. Overall, another Classic in Hrishi da's Filmography and I wonder why it has remained so underrated? Why is it not a termed as Popular Classic for years? That's simply unacceptable.
RATING - 8/10*
Well done, Hrishi Da, you have done it again and without any forceful conviction. The tittle of Guddi refers to Guddi and we all assume that the film is about Guddi the character but it is not. Yes, it's shocking but that's a fact and whoever didn't understand it hasn't actually understood the film.
From what i see, Guddi is half about Guddi and half about shattering insights of Cinema world. In the beginning it is just about Guddi and her teenage obsession about films and filmstars then it moves to the mission of making Guddi forget that infatuation and then the second half turns solid intense while showing an inside look at unknown facts of the film industry. Hrishikesh Mukherjee who himself was a member of cinema fraternity doesn't hesitate to glorify the off screen heroes ahead of on screen heroes. That's incredible.
There are minimum 7 to 8 scenes in the film which will stay with me for long time which doesn't happen often with me. In the begining there's scene when Guddi literally insults Dilip Kumar and Mughal E Azam (1960), and the next moment she expresses her madness for Hrishikesh Mukherjee's Anupama (1966) and Dharmendra and i was like, "Seriously? She is not even a movie fan, she understands nothing about cinema. Was Hrishi da advertising his own film or what?" After one or two furious moments i realised, no it's like that. May be it has a woman point of view for it because Mughal E Azam was more about Sacrifice and Anupama was about struggle for love. Yes, it made sense to me at least. One of the most memorable scene in the film is when Dharmendra shows then the burnt studio and recalls how many old classics films Bimal Roy made there and now people would never realised the importance of this premises after the renovation. Adding to the same scene he says, i feel very fake here in the cinema industry because audience only see the shining glamour not the darkness behind it. And the very next scene when Photographer literally smashes the media industry by using an example of a Prostitute. Stunning, indeed. Not to mention the transformation scenes of 'Guddi', there are plenty with emotional and matured sense.
Jaya Bhaduri debuted as an leading actress with this film and i must say she was very lucky. Her character was well refined, it also had different stages to show the variety of skills and undoubtedly Jaya handled it perfectly. She looked so cute in the beginning song at School and then the same teenage girl looked breathtaking in Saree. I can't say enough how sexy she looked in couple of scenes without sexy attires, yes you read it right i said Sexy only. Dharmendra plays an important and completely different role so well that i have no issues from him. Utpal Dutt is outstanding as Uncle and I wasn't expecting anything less than great from a great actor like him. In the naive character Samit Bhanja adds natural innocence to make it look even better. Vasant Desai's Music is decent excluding the copied songs but yes 'Humko Man Ki Shakti Dena' is definitely something more than decent.
Lastly, a thank you note to legend Hrishikesh Mukherjee who brought this innovative idea on screen and gave full justice to it. Although it is little unrealistic, it still has most of the portion falling in realism from where we can easily look forward. Overall, another Classic in Hrishi da's Filmography and I wonder why it has remained so underrated? Why is it not a termed as Popular Classic for years? That's simply unacceptable.
RATING - 8/10*