Guddi (1971 film)


Guddi is a 1971 Hindi drama film directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee and written by Gulzar. It starred Dharmendra, Jaya Bachchan and Utpal Dutt. It is Jaya Bachchan 's career-making film in which she plays a schoolgirl who has a crush on and is obsessed with the actor Dharmendra, who plays himself. She earned a Filmfare nomination as Best Actress, the only nomination for the film. Utpal Dutt also has a starring role. Many popular Bollywood actors like Rajesh Khanna, Naveen Nischol, Asrani, Amitabh Bachchan, Om Prakash and Pran gave guest appearances as themselves. The film became a "big city hit" and did "above average" business everywhere else. It was later remade in Tamil as Cinema Paithiyam starring Jayachitra and Kamal Haasan.

Plot

Kusum is a spunky and carefree schoolgirl who lives with her father, brother and sister-in-law. Guddi has a crush on film star Dharmendra, whom she regards as a superman who can do no wrong, unable to distinguish between his on-screen image and the real person behind the star.
Nobody knows the extent of her crush until she visits Bombay, where her sister-in-law's brother Navin proposes to her, only to be taken aback when Guddi discloses that she is in love with Dharmendra. Navin discusses the matter with his uncle, who decides that the only solution is to make Guddi realise the difference between illusion and reality.
The uncle contacts Dharmendra through a mutual friend. With his help, they show Guddi the difference between the real world and the make-believe world of cinema. Exposed for the first time to the grime and the cruel and heartless world behind the glamour of cinema, Guddi realises that nothing is true in the reel world. While her respect for Dharmendra grows, Guddi comes to realise that he is just as human as anyone around and lives with the same fears and insecurities as anyone else.
The film ends with Guddi agreeing to marry Navin.

Cast

The movie was being shot at the same time as Anand, also directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee. The original male lead for the movie was Amitabh Bachchan. But when the director realized while shooting Anand that Amitabh had the makings of a great actor, he promptly removed him from Guddi in which he had a secondary role. Guddi provides a rare behind-the-scenes look at the movie industry in Bombay during the late 1960s and early 1970s and featured cameos from a lot of the major actors and industry figures at that time including :
The song "Bole Re Papihara" was listed at #21 on Binaca Geetmala annual list 1972.

Awards and nominations