Guddi (1971) User Reviews

A good lesson to those who fall in love with stars!

[Peter_Young · 7/10 · 10 October 2009]

'Guddi' is another good entertainment by the vintage Mukherjee. This is the story of Kusum, a bubbly and vivacious girl who is a great film buff and whose biggest love is Dharmendra, the top film star of that time. Her uncle, Mr. Gupta, wants her to get married to a guy named Navin, and she honestly tells Navin of her real/impossible love. Her uncle decides to give her an opportunity to meet her idol, and with the help of the star himself, gets permission to visit the sets daily in order for Kusum to see what film-making is all about.

The film intelligently shows how Kusum's enthusiasm is gradually fading with every day as she gets to know more of this world. Mukherjee gives us a great glimpse into the world of cinema, and we learn a lot about it, as does Kusum. She learns that much of the action is fake, that actors are not what they are perceived to be on-screen, that they are simple people who often make mistakes, and through the character of Dharmendra, she witnesses their feelings, fears and regrets. This leads to both a great deal of disappointment and at the same time some appreciation towards the star, but she simply realises he is not what she really thought him to be.

The film is done realistically, with simple writing and normal situations. The acting is very natural. Utpal Dutt is funny and likable with his comic sense. Samit Bhanja is absolutely fantastic as Navin. Dharmendra surprisingly does not have that big a role, yet he does full justice to it. But 'Guddi' is Jaya's film all the way. Her Kusum "Guddi" is a character many would find very easy to relate to, because not once have we ourselves been in love with different artists. I myself remember falling in love with several actresses after watching certain films. The viewer may sympathise and identify with her gradual growth, and that's purely because of her natural acting and simplicity. All in all, 'Guddi' is a worthy film. I wouldn't say it's particularly great, but it's entertaining, well-made and easily relatable.

Amazing take on Bollywood

[silvan-desouza · 8/10 · 7 August 2012]

Hrishikesh Mukherjee is one of the filmmakers who made films which were simple yet lighthearted and entertaining, he had big stars in his films but mostly they played simpletons and normal characters and also were remembered as benchmarks in the actor's careers.

GUDDI was the film that introduced Jaya Bachchan to bollywood, that time known as Jaya Bhaduri. The film narrates her story, she is a child in school who loves films and is a big fan of Dharmendra. The film showcases her journey and how she is shown the true world of bollywood behind the scenes. The film also has Dharmendra playing himself for once, He is a superstar(as he was in early 70s) There is also a slight mention of Rajesh Khanna taking over his stardom(Dharam says it himself) which was true as early 70s was dominated by Rajesh Khanna till 1973. The film however mainly focuses on Guddi and her love for films and how she transforms, The film has the vintage touch of Mukherjee who does a great job keeping the film simple yet fun and entertaining and also educates without being preechy. The idea of Dharam agreeing to help Utpal Dutt may seem unbelievable but it works well with the context of the film. The first half showcases more on Guddi, her scenes at school are fun, there are few references to films and quips like when Guddi's classmate tells her we will go and watch Dilip Kumar's AZAAD she says it will be long and boring and prefers to watch Anupama(1966) again, the film shows a scene from the film and it's mentioned more then once. The film is full of fun in the first half, The scenes at her household are also nice, her interaction with her bhabhi, brother, father(who is a chess expert) and then her love interest are well handled, The second half focuses more on the filmy side with short appearances by a horde of actors mostly connected to Hrishida(who did films with him before and after) There show on the sets of Dharam's some film where he is worried about shooting a piano song sequence and then there are several pokes at bollywood. There is a scene of Parwana(1971) which perhaps was not taken from the outtakes but from the film itself it shows Amitabh shooting for the pre climax sequence of Parwana.Strangely Amitabh was supposed to play the lead but the director refused as he had become famous post ANAND perhaps.Amitabh also did a guest appearance in Hrishida's GOLMAAL where he was shooting for a sequence of Hrishida's own Jurmana There is a shot of Rajesh Khanna who forgets his lines during a simple dialogue, Shots of Vinod Khanna and Shatru shooting for a scene from MERE APNE and also Dlip Kumar. Other shots include Naveen Nischol, Biswajeet and others. All this provide a unique parody of Bollywood something unheard those days. There are several scenes showing that all that glitters on screen is not gold like Om Prakash mentions in one scene wherein the lightmen faints while shooting as he has fever. During one action scene by Duplicate of Pran and Dharam, the duplicate gets hurt while jumping from a chandeelier to a window and a comment is made that the scene will be cut from the film. Dharmendra takes Guddi to a burnt studio and narrates it's sad tale.Ashok Kumar after a shoot of a film(with 2 takes) tells that all credit goes to an actor for a film and people don't acknowledge the importance of work done by writer/director.There is also a funny scene where Pran gifts Dharam his watch and Jaya comments that he never does anything without a reason and then receives an answer that just because he plays a villain on screen doesn't mean he is a mean guy.The film doesn't get too melodramatic and maintains a tongue in cheek tone throughout with some dramatic and emotional scenes thrown in.Like the scene where Jaya's bf writes an article in his diary about the industry and the bitter truth and also Asrani's subplot of his dream of becoming a big star but ends up an extra The climax is predictable and filmy yet it works well. Direction is awesome, Hrishida is the self confessed bollywood fan and it showed in most of his films and here he does a fab job. The film was different for it's times and led to several films with Bollywood like it's backdrop Music is superb, Aaja Re and Humko Man ki Shakti are the best ones Dialogues are superb

Jaya Bachchan lives the role of Guddi and she is flawless. She is so true to her character that you relate to her perfectly Hrishida worked with her again in Bawarchi and Mili Dharmendra is full of life and entertains as he did in movies in 70s with his natural act. He worked again with Hrishi in Chupke Chupke. Samit Bhanja as Navin is adequate. Utpal Dutt is superb as always, while AK Hangal who featured in many films by Hrishida is natural in a small role Asrani is superb in a cameo, Sumita Sanyal as the bhabhi is good too

It's so strange that Hrishida's films worked many times without big stars and only his brand name Watch Guddi for it's innocence, entertainment and true story behind bollywood

An underrated Classic of Hrishikesh Mukherjee which shatters teenage infatuation of Blind Fanship as well as Fake Glamour of Cinema World.

[SAMTHEBESTEST · 8/10 · 3 March 2021]

Guddi (1971) : Movie Review -

Well done, Hrishi Da, you have done it again and without any forceful conviction. The tittle of Guddi refers to Guddi and we all assume that the film is about Guddi the character but it is not. Yes, it's shocking but that's a fact and whoever didn't understand it hasn't actually understood the film.

From what i see, Guddi is half about Guddi and half about shattering insights of Cinema world. In the beginning it is just about Guddi and her teenage obsession about films and filmstars then it moves to the mission of making Guddi forget that infatuation and then the second half turns solid intense while showing an inside look at unknown facts of the film industry. Hrishikesh Mukherjee who himself was a member of cinema fraternity doesn't hesitate to glorify the off screen heroes ahead of on screen heroes. That's incredible.

There are minimum 7 to 8 scenes in the film which will stay with me for long time which doesn't happen often with me. In the begining there's scene when Guddi literally insults Dilip Kumar and Mughal E Azam (1960), and the next moment she expresses her madness for Hrishikesh Mukherjee's Anupama (1966) and Dharmendra and i was like, "Seriously? She is not even a movie fan, she understands nothing about cinema. Was Hrishi da advertising his own film or what?" After one or two furious moments i realised, no it's like that. May be it has a woman point of view for it because Mughal E Azam was more about Sacrifice and Anupama was about struggle for love. Yes, it made sense to me at least. One of the most memorable scene in the film is when Dharmendra shows then the burnt studio and recalls how many old classics films Bimal Roy made there and now people would never realised the importance of this premises after the renovation. Adding to the same scene he says, i feel very fake here in the cinema industry because audience only see the shining glamour not the darkness behind it. And the very next scene when Photographer literally smashes the media industry by using an example of a Prostitute. Stunning, indeed. Not to mention the transformation scenes of 'Guddi', there are plenty with emotional and matured sense.

Jaya Bhaduri debuted as an leading actress with this film and i must say she was very lucky. Her character was well refined, it also had different stages to show the variety of skills and undoubtedly Jaya handled it perfectly. She looked so cute in the beginning song at School and then the same teenage girl looked breathtaking in Saree. I can't say enough how sexy she looked in couple of scenes without sexy attires, yes you read it right i said Sexy only. Dharmendra plays an important and completely different role so well that i have no issues from him. Utpal Dutt is outstanding as Uncle and I wasn't expecting anything less than great from a great actor like him. In the naive character Samit Bhanja adds natural innocence to make it look even better. Vasant Desai's Music is decent excluding the copied songs but yes 'Humko Man Ki Shakti Dena' is definitely something more than decent.

Lastly, a thank you note to legend Hrishikesh Mukherjee who brought this innovative idea on screen and gave full justice to it. Although it is little unrealistic, it still has most of the portion falling in realism from where we can easily look forward. Overall, another Classic in Hrishi da's Filmography and I wonder why it has remained so underrated? Why is it not a termed as Popular Classic for years? That's simply unacceptable.

RATING - 8/10*

Story of a girl who fell in love with a moviestar...

[indianfuhrer · 8 February 2002]

Vintage Hrishikesh Mukherjee...

A classic movie, now etched in the hall of fame of Indian cinema, of how a schoolgirl falls in love with a man she sees in the movies...

Dharmendra plays the part of the movie star with ease...it's almost like he's playin himself...Utpal Dutt once again shows his knack for humor...

But, it's Jaya Bhaduri ( Now Mrs.Bachchan ) who steals the show.This was her breakthrough into mainstream cinema, and she does it like a pro...showing that she was a force to reckon with during those days...

Rating - Whopping 9/10

A movie with perspective

[Sachin_Chavan · 8/10 · 15 March 2020]

A movie of the times when people mixed the reel with the real (many still do). A movie that helps see the reality behind the make believe film world. The romance track is handled quite immaturely though. The highlights are Jaya Bhaduri's acting's and the Bollywood referencing (for e.g. the film hoardings scene when Guddi arrives in Bombay).

Guddi

[IPyaarCinema · 8/10 · 13 April 2021]

Review By Kamal K

QWorth watching film, it's a movie framed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee which makes us realise how much hard work is required to become an actor, and also we fall in love with filmstars without knowing each other personally.

The film is good we should not consider filmstars as our relatives or lover as they are human beings like us.

Flattery of film faternity

[Sumeet_Pradhan · 4/10 · 6 April 2020]

I found this movie to be one of the weakest by Hrishikesh Mukherjee.

It starts on a promising note. The infatuation of school girls with movie stars is aptly captured with Jaya Bhaduri nailing it as a bubbly teenage girl. The scene where the girls meet Dharamendra for the first time is done well.

Unfortunately, the movie loses steam in the second half when the story shifts to Bombay. Since the script uses real life movie stars as part of the story, it has the onus of being politically correct to depict all the film personalities as perfect idealizations. After a point, the preoccupation of script with flattering of the stars derails the narrative.