Kaagaz Ke Phool
The first Indian feature film to be shot in the widescreen CinemaScope format, this cinematic swan song by multi-hyphenate filmmaker Guru Dutt matches show-business drama with stunning black-and-white cinematography.
Dutt stars as Suresh Sinha, a famous director who senses star potential in Shanti (Waheeda Rehman), a stranger to whom he lends his coat on a rainy evening. As Shanti’s movie career blossoms, so does romance between the lonely director and his muse, but Suresh’s chaotic personal life and the prejudices of the public create tragedy from their ill-fated romance.
Widely considered a commercial failure on release, Kaagaz Ke Phool was rediscovered by cinephiles in the 1980s and now commonly ranks on critics’ lists among the best Indian films of all time.
