Guide

Plot

Raju (Dev Anand), is a freelance guide, who earns his living by taking tourists to historic sites. The movie starts with Raju being released from jail, and then the story unfolds in a series of flashbacks. One day, a wealthy and aging archaeologist named Marco arrives in the city with his young wife Rosie (Waheeda Rehman), who is the daughter of a courtesan. Marco wants to do some research on the caves outside the city and hires Raju as his guide. He discovers a new cave and ignores Rosie.

While Marco devotes himself to the discovery of the cave, Raju takes Rosie on a tour and appreciates her dancing ability and innocence. He learns about Rosie's background as a daughter of a prostitute and how Rosie has achieved respectability as Marco's wife but at a terrible cost. She has had to give up her passion of dancing since it is unacceptable to Marco. Meanwhile, Rosie tries to commit suicide by consuming poison. Marco, upon discovering the incident, returns from the caves to see Rosie and gets furious on Rosie after seeing her alive. He tells Rosie that her act of committing suicide was a drama, otherwise she would have consumed more sleeping pills so that she could really have died. On returning to Caves which were discovered, Rosie learns that Marco is spending time and enjoying the company of a native tribal girl. Rosie is mad at Marco and both indulge in a serious heated discussion and then Rosie leaves the caves, and again wants to end her life. But Raju calms her by saying that committing suicide is a sin, and that she should live to pursue her dream. She finally says good-bye to the relation of being the wife of Marco. But now she needs support and a place to live. It is here that Raju takes her to his home.

Rosie is considered a prostitute too, by Raju's community (as classical dancing traditionally was related with prostitute at Royal court) which leads to many problems including his mother and her brother insisting that Rosie be kicked out. Raju refuses and his mother leaves him. His friend and driver also falls out with him over Rosie. Raju loses his business and the entire town turns against him. Undeterred by these setbacks, Raju helps Rosie embark on a singing and dancing career and Rosie becomes a star. As she rises as a star, Raju becomes dissolute—gambling and drinking. Marco comes back on the scene. Trying to win Rosie back, he brings flowers and has his agent ask Rosie to release some jewelry which is in a safe deposit box. Raju, a bit jealous, does not want Marco to have contact with Rosie and forges Rosie's name on the release of the jewels. Meanwhile Rosie and Raju drift apart due to Rosie's incomprehensible behaviour when she tortures Raju by not obliging him a caring hug even and asks him to leave her room else she says she will have to go out. Before this they also had a discussion about how a man should live when Rosie remembers Marco and tells Raju that Marco was probably correct when he used to say that a Man should not live on a woman's earnings.Raju retorts by saying that she is under a misunderstanding that she has become a star on her own and this was Raju's efforts which has helped her a lot in becoming a star. Then later Rosie learns of the forgery release. Raju is convicted of forgery, resulting in a two year sentence. Rosie does not understand why Raju indulged in forgery. It was not money, it was the loving fascination for Rosie which urged Raju not to reveal Marco's visit to Rosie so that she doesn't remember him again and to eliminate the probability of Rosie and Marco's togetherness, if at all, there was any little chance even. On the day of his release, his mother and Rosie come to pick him up but they are told that he was released six months ago because of his good behaviour.

Production

Dev Anand was approached by American director Tad Danielewski and writer Pearl S. Buck for an American film based on the 1958 novel The Guide by R. K. Narayan. Anand declined at first, but agreed to collaborate with Danielewski when he met him again at the 1962 Berlin Film Festival. Anand read the novel and contacted Buck, who invited him to the United States to discuss the project. Anand then reached out to Narayan to procure the rights to the book. The Indian and American production teams clashed, causing Anand to postpone the Hindi version, thereby freeing Chetan Anand to direct the highly-acclaimed war drama Haqeeqat (1964).

Raj Khosla was set to direct the Hindi version, with Waheeda Rehman being the first choice to play the role of Rosie. However, Rehman did not wish to work with Khosla following a misunderstanding between the two on the sets of Solva Saal (1958). Anand then approached Saira Banu to play Rosie, who declined. Vyjayanthimala was then considered, but was rejected by Danielewski. Khosla then stepped away the project, thereby enabling the inclusion of Waheeda Rehman, who had been lobbying for the role (and Khosla's exit) from behind-the-scenes. His exit also presenting an opportunity for Anand's own brother, Vijay Anand, to step in. The film would prove to be a landmark achievement in the careers of both the Anand brothers and also of Waheeda Rehman.

The sequence featuring the song "Aaj Phir Jeene Ki Tamanna Hai" was shot in the Chittor Fort in Rajasthan. The film's climax was shot in the town of Limbdi, located 90 km away from Ahmedabad on the banks of the river Bhogavo.

Music

The film's music and background score was composed by Sachin Dev Burman, written by Shailendra and sung by Kishore Kumar, Mohammed Rafi, Lata Mangeshkar, Manna Dey and Sachin Dev Burman. The soundtrack was listed as #1 on Film Companion's list of Top 100 Bollywood Albums. In a poll of 30 leading composers, lyricists and singers conducted by Outlook India Magazine to determine the 20 best Hindi Film songs ever, three songs from the film made the list.

Rafi had originally recorded a song called "Hum Hi Mein Thi Na Koi Baat, Yaad Na Tumko Aa Sake, Tumne Hume Bhula Diya, Hum Na Tumko Bhula Sake", but later this song was replaced by "Din Dhal Jaaye".

In the song "Mo Se Chal Kiye Jaaye", the tabla is played by renowned musician Pandit Shivkumar Sharma.

Reception

Author R. K. Narayan disliked the film adaptation of his novel. Reviewing the English version of the film for the magazine Life, he called it "The Misguided Guide."

In a review of the American release in The New York Times, critic Bosley Crowther praised the cinematography as "... a succession of colorful views of sightseeing spots, busy cities, temples, dusty landscapes and crowds," but lamented that "... the development of the narrative continuity is so erratic and frequently slurred–so clumsy and artless, to be plain-spoken–that both story and emotion are vague."

Accolades

The film was selected as the India's official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 38th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.

At the 14th Filmfare Awards, Guide received a leading 9 nominations, and won 7 awards, becoming the most-awarded film at the ceremony. Guide was also the first film to win all 4 major awards: Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress.

The ceremony also proved to be controversial, as S. D. Burman, who was nominated for Best Music Director and Lata Mangeshkar, who was nominated for Best Playback Singer for "Aaj Phir Jeene Ki Tamanna Hai", both lost their respective awards to Shankar-Jaikishan and Mohammed Rafi (for "Baharon Phool Barsao"), both for Suraj, despite being highly favored for winning in their respective categories.