The making of Guide

Guide, the Navketan magnum opus, is a toast to Dev Anand's courage to experiment with a theme much ahead of his times. The film projected the hero and heroine as frail humans who could sin and remain unapologetic about it.

It was a "crazy film", which was initially opposed by everyone who had access to the actor, when he decided to film R K Narayan's novel along with Pearl S Buck who had visited India to explore the possibility of making an "Indian film for the American market." His detractors included his younger brother Vijay (Goldie) Anand, who eventually went against himself to direct the movie and win laurals for it.

The plan then was to give the story to two directors, Tad Danielewski to work on the English version and Vijay Anand to work on the Hindi. Though Danielewski had little problem with the script, Vijay was dumbfounded. He argued that a film, which showed the central figures in such a poor light would be a disaster in India. But Dev was like a man possessed. He had set his mind on the project, which was Navketan's first international venture, and he went on to stake his last penny on it.

After Vijay refused to work, Dev made the abortive attempt to hand over the film to two other directors. Disppointed, Dev approached Vijay once again as a last ditch attempt. This time Vijay agreed to do the film, even though reluctantly.

The initial reaction to the Hindi version in India was as expected - disastrous. The plot seemed so madding that distributors, even before its screening, refused to buy its rights. The film, therefore, had to remain in the cans, even as interests kept mounting on the investment Dev had made. Bankruptcy was staring in the face.

Just then, Yash Johar, the veteran producer of several hits, who was working for Navketan at that time, pulled off a coup and roped in a distributor to buy off the film. The reversal had begun.

Later screenings won the movie much acclaim. Incidentally, the English version of the movie flopped, despite Danielewski using a Waheeda duplicate for a nude scene in the movie.