On Guru Dutt’s 90th birth anniversary, his brother Devi remembers the Bollywood great’s last few living hours spent in his company
Chaitanya Padukone (DNA; July 10, 2015)

 Guru Dutt’s classic movies have always been a benchmark for Bollywood greatness, yet few are aware as to how the enigmatic music-savvy director-actor, born Vasanth Kumar Padukone, actually earned his screen-name. On his 90th birth anniversary, the actor/director’s younger brother and Devi Dutt (of Masoom fame) tells us the story.

Behind the name
He recalls, “When he was about 18-months-old, Vasanth was about to drown in a nearby well, but he was hoisted and saved by my grandmother. Spiritual godman Swami Ramdas, who studied Vasanth’s horoscope, decided to change his name to Gurudutt. In 1950, it was his mentor, director Gyan Mukherjee who made him drop his surname and split up his name. This proved lucky as he got his breakthrough in 1951 as an independent director in Dev Anand’s Baazi,” informs the 77-year-old producer who had the privilege of working with his genius brother for 11 years.

It wasn’t suicide
Would Devi care to unravel the circumstances surrounding Guru’s mysterious and untimely death at age 39? He says, “I totally deny baseless speculations that Guru Dutt killed himself out of melancholic frustration. It was apparently an accidental overdose of sleeping pills, as he suffered from a sleeping disorder.”

That last day
He continues, “As scripted by destiny, I was with him, just a day before he passed away and he seemed fit and fine. Regular shooting of his Baharein Phir Bhi Aayegi was on. Flustered by the sudden cancellation by one of the lead cast, Guru Dutt changed plans for next day. We went shopping in his car to Colaba and he bought garments for me and for his two sons Tarun and Arun. We reached his flat at Pedder Road around 6.30 pm where he resided minus his family. It was his ardent wish that his children should be with him every weekend. Adamant, Guru Dutt then had a long telephonic chat with singer-wife Geeta, but she refused to send the kids, as it was late at night. Which disheartened him. That’s when dialogue-writer Abrar Alvi joined him for a creative brainstorming over booze and I was asked to leave them alone. Which I did. For me, it was quality time spent with Guru Dutt on October 9, 1964. Because 24 hours later, we were all stunned, watching his mortal remains being consigned to flames,” laments Devi, who made his debut as a producer with the Naseer-Shabana starrer Masoom and dedicated it to the memory of his “mentors Geeta and Guru Dutt”.