4. Pyaasa (1957)

Alternative title: Eternal Thirst aka The Thirsty One

Language: Hindi

Director: Guru Dutt

Running time: 153 mins

Starring: Guru Dutt, Waheeda Rahman, Mala Sinha, Johnny Walker

Company: Guru Dutt Films

Turning away from the stylish frothy romances and noirish thrillers of his early career, Dutt explored the fate of youthful imagination in modern India in this tale of the alienated artist (played by Dutt himself) losing his girl and ending up in a haze of alcohol and the company of the golden-hearted courtesan. As genres went, Dutt was grafting new nuances on to the time-tested formula of the Devdas story. Critics saw its desperate pessimism and stinging critique of the rich and the powerful as a darkening of the optimistic skies of post-independence Bombay cinema. The quasi-expressionist photography in black and white deepened such perceptions. Dutt's alcoholism and suicide has contributed to the film's reputation as the anthem of a postcolonial feudal elite in decline. The songs have grown in stature and so has the ethereal presence of Waheeda Rahman playing the role of the courtesan.