Guide (1965)

User Rating:

8.7/10   

Directors:

Vijay Anand
Tad Danielewski

Writers:

Vijay Anand (dialogue)
Vijay Anand (screenplay)

Genre:

Drama | Musical | Romance

Plot:

Raju makes a living by acting as a guide for tourists on one hand, and a con-man on another. He meets with Rosie Marco during one of his tours...

Plot Keywords:

Rain | Stage Show | Fasting | Tragic Ending | Famine

Awards:

7 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Dev Anand	...	Raju
Waheeda Rehman	...	Rosie Marco / Miss Nalini
Leela Chitnis	...	Raju's Mother
Anwar Hussain	...	Gaffoor
Ulhas	...	Raju's Uncle (Mamaji)
Gajanan Jagirdar	...	Bhola (as Jagirdar)
Rashid Khan	...	Joseph
Kishore Sahu	...	Marco
Praveen Paul	...	Bhola's Wife (as Pravin Paul)
Mridula Rani	...	Laxmibai (as Mirdula Rani)
Purnima
Sheela R.		(as Ellen Sheela R.)
Krishan Dhawan	...	Inspector Girdhari
Prem Sagar
Narbada Shankar		(as Nerbada Shankar)

Also Known As:

Survival (India: English title)
The Guide

Runtime:

183 min | USA:120 min

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi | English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor) (US version) | Color (Pathécolor) (original Indian version)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

India:U

Filming Locations:

Mehboob Studios, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Company:

Navketan International Films

Trivia:

Vijay Anand was horrified when he read the script and thought it would ruin the image of the country abroad. He refused twice to direct the film. It was only on the third attempt by Dev Anand that he agreed.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Shikaar (2000)

Soundtrack:

Mose chal kiye jaaye...saiyaan beimaan

'Can there be any connection between one man's hunger and the rains?'

When I travelled from India to US this was the only Hindi movie DVD that I carried with me. To me this is a "complete movie", as a movie should be. It entertains me by taking me through a wide gamut of emotions, it stimulates me spiritually and philosophically (indian faith, western existentialism are all there) and it is technically brilliant.

Each scene seems to be individually composed and you can see the effort that director vijay anand and his crew put in. Raju speaks to us in one of the scenes "there is not much difference between me and you". And as he speaks this you see the statue of Krishna in the background and Raju's index finger stretched as if holding a sudarshan chakra. Brilliant!!! Subtle things like these that you have to watch out for. The name "Guide" itself conveys a different meaning at different times in the movie; a railway guide, a personal guide and then a spiritual guide.

It is very sad that a brilliant director like Vijay Anand could never come out of the shadows of Navketan and despite giving us some of the most important and influential movies of our times was ignored. People in west respect their classics and make an effort that Billy Wilder, Hitchcock, Orson Welles, Chaplin etc. are not forgotten. New directors openly admit how much they have been influenced by these people. But in India, what is not on MTV is not worth remembering. In another 10 years no one will remember Vijay Anand.