Artwork drawn from the title — how & why
2

Ranked #2 of 100

Pyaasa

प्यासा · 1957

A poet nobody wants alive and everybody wants dead. Guru Dutt's indictment of a country that monetises art only after the artist is gone.

Director
Guru Dutt
Year
1957
Genre
Drama · Musical
Cast
Guru Dutt, Waheeda Rehman, Mala Sinha, Johnny Walker

Why it's at number 2

The single most beautiful use of light and despair in Indian film. TIME's all-time 100.

A poet nobody wants alive and everybody wants dead. Guru Dutt's indictment of a country that monetises art only after the artist is gone.

Pyaasa sits in the 1950s alongside Mother India and Awaara — a decade this canon treats as foundational.

The Bollywood 100

The essentials

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