Kaagaz ke phool

Finally, the time had come when another classic was under my belt. Yep, I managed to see "Kaagaz ke phool". Apparently, a flop in its time, this movie is supposed to be a classic. A movie very close to Bachchans, who have gone to the extent of saying BLACK was a marvelous piece of work, very close to KKP. I would tend to disagree here though - BLACK deserves its own credit.

KKP is a story about a film director (Guru Dutt as Suresh Sinha) with a wife who has left him, a daughter he cannot parent - a loner. Fate has him meet another poor loner (Waheeda Rehman as Shanti) who doesn't want to act but finds herself convinced by Suresh. And love blossoms, only to find Shanti sacrificing it for Suresh's daughter. The film ends in an usual Guru Dutt style. (I believe Pyaasa was the only exception of all his movies I have seen so far).


So, why did KKP fail to impress its audience? Was it because of a theme bold for its time? Or was it because of a weak screenplay, or songs like "Dekhi zamane ki yaari..." bearing a striking resemblance to Pyaasa's "Yeh duniya agar mil bhi jaaye toh...", ...? Though, KKP has it's own strengths too - solid performances, hit music ("Waqt ne kiya kya haseen..."), the movie still bombed at box office. It lacked something which audience could attach to, something audience could hold on to - the movie's start gives an impression that there's much to be told even after the flashback but it has an abstract ending.

The movie was Guru Dutt's semi-autobiography too. This movie was different from other Guru Dutt starrers - Pyaasa, Chaudhvin Ka Chand - it was different in that the characters of this movie were not very well laid out. KKP was abstract at a lot of places, lot left for the audience's imagination. This is where a novel and a film differ. The former allows for imagination from the beginning. And if the latter allows for imagination intermittently, it becomes hard to fill in gaps.

Though Guru Dutt did not rock as a director, he gave a pretty good performance. Part of it could be perhaps associated to the fact that he himself could identify so much with the story owing to his well known affair with Waheeda Rehman at that time. In one of the scenes, Shanti is dressed up with lot of fancy - reminds me of Rohini Hattangadi in Chaalbaaz. But there was a difference, the former did not intend comedy like the latter did.

The movie is different for its time. KKP is not a must watch but something you could watch to complete your filmi knowledge.

That was KKP from your apna filmi chatter box. Keep watching till next time ;)

Rating: 2.5/5.0