NOSTALGIA: Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam

PATHOS AND POIGNANCY

Ever since the release of Abrar Alvi's Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam in 1962, there has been widespread speculation about the authorship of this film. Abrar Alvi was its director, Guru Dutt, its producer. Legend has it that after the debacle of his dream project Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959), Guru Dutt vowed never to direct a film again. But enthusiasts and academics have analysed the film threadbare to sift the individual roles either of the Alvi-Dutt duo may have played in its creation. While it may or may not have been ghost directed by Dutt, it certainly possesses the qualities of subliminal pathos and innate delicacy which distinguished his cinema from that of other filmmakers of the time.