Kolkata is offering tribute to cinema legend Guru Dutt, with screenings of his restored masterpieces and lectures. The Kolkata Centre for Creativity (KCC) hosted ‘Yeh Duniya Agar Mil Bhi Jaye Toh: Remembering Guru Dutt’ on the occasion of the birth centenary of the filmmaker.  

As part of this commemoration, KCC is collaborating with the National Film Development Corporation – National Film Archive of India (NFDC-NFAI) to present a curated screening of ‘Pyaasa’ and exhibition of digital prints of original posters and film-stills alongside critical talks and archival materials that reframe Dutt’s legacy for new audiences. An official statement from organisers says, “engage with Dutt not as a nostalgic icon, but as a spectral presence–an artist whose images still whisper urgently to the present.” 

The day-long immersive tribute commenced with a keynote address titled ‘Affect, Authorship and Ideology’ which was an extensive exploration of the aesthetics and politics of Guru Dutt’s films by Prof. Ira Bhaskar, the former Dean of Jawaharlal Nehru University. She spoke of how his films displayed a choreography of light and movement, molding with music. 

Professor Bhaskar analysed the politics of his film ‘Pyaasa’ which she described as a “very hard-hitting critique of capitalism with its prostitution of human emotions and values at the altar of capital.” She goes on to probe into some more of his essential works–examining Dutt’s reflections on patriarchy, feudalism, the emerging modernity and the capitalist film industry. 

“He spoke fluent Bangla, and it was his life’s dream to make a film in Bengali,” Professor Bhaskar said about Guru Dutt’s love for Bengal and the influence it had on him. She mentioned that she will return to Kolkata in November this year for a seminar on Ritwik Ghatak, who she describes as another all-time obsession of hers. 

The day was completed with a screening of Pyaasa, one of Dutt’s most celebrated films.