Veteran poet-lyricist-screenwriter Javed Akhtar has revealed the late actor-filmmaker Guru Dutt had a profound influence on him, so much so that he harboured a dream of becoming a director and even assisting the Pyaasa maker.
At a special session organised to pay tribute to the Hindi cinema legend as part of his centenary celebrations in Mumbai on Wednesday night, Javed, 80, shared that his dream to work with Mr Dutt remained unfulfilled.
“After my graduation, I thought I’ll go to the film industry and join Guru Dutt for a couple of years and then I'll become a director. When you’re 18-year-old things are simpler and easier, so that is what I had decided. It is so unfortunate that I came to Bombay (now Mumbai) in 1964, on October 4 and he passed away on October 10, so I could never ever see him,” Javed said.
“I had really thought that I when I go (to Mumbai) somehow I’ll manage (to work with Guru Dutt) because (poet-lyricist) Sahir (Ludhianvi) sahab was a good friend of Guru Dutt and he had written songs for Pyaasa”, I thought this connection will work.
“I had thought I’ll assist him for a while but it didn’t work,” he stated.