Chaudhvin Ka Chand: The Original Screenplay

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Guru Dutt's career as a filmmaker was buffeted by extreme reversals of fortune. Within eight short months of the box office debacle of Kaagaz Ke Phool, Guru Dutt released his next production, Chaudhvin Ka Chand (1960), an epic romance that proved tremendously popular.

The film's thematic nucleus is the deep emotional connection between two friends, Aslam and Pyaare Miyan, which is put to the test when they fall in love with the same woman. Chaudhvin Ka Chand presents romantic intensity and fraternal sacrifice with heightened emotionality but also dries out the moistness with splashes of well-scripted humour. The story's appeal is enhanced by director M Sadiq, a Bollywood veteran from the 1940s, who imbues this Lucknowi tale with the honour and tahzeeb of a bygone era.

Chaudhvin Ka Chand: The Original Screenplay archives the screenplay of this film and also incorporates insightful interviews of actors Waheeda Rehman and Farida Dadi, production associate Shyam Kapoor, make-up man Baburao Pawaskar and costume designer Bhanu Athaiya.

Guru Dutt's movies determined the trajectory of many a film artiste's success story and his artful presentation of ideas shaped the course of Hindi films - this verity is examined in an essay by authors Dinesh Raheja and Jitendra Kothari.

The films made under the aegis of Guru Dutt Films Pvt Ltd. are an ineluctable part of Hindi cinema's Belle Époque and this book is one of a compendium on three ageless classics — Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam, Chaudhvin Ka Chand and Kaagaz Ke Phool.

Dinesh Raheja has written on cinema for over 25 years. Raised on a staple diet of two films a week, Raheja is currently the Editor of Bollywood News Service. In his long and prolific career as a writer, he has worked as the Editor of Movie magazine (1988-1999), been a columnist for Sunday Mid-day, Channel Editor of India Today's online film section and written scripts for television. Raheja has also authored two books on cinema, The Hundred Luminaries of Hindi Cinema (1996) and Indian Cinema, The Bollywood Saga (2004).

Recently, Raheja has started a weekly open discussion group called 'Let's Talk Over Chai' that enables professionals from myriad spheres to exchange opinions on trenchantly topical issues and, of course, Raheja first love, cinema.

Jitendra Kothari is a passionate film archivist and film historian. Currently the Deputy Editor of Bollywood News Service, Jitendra found journalism the perfect cauldron to merge related interests: literature, numbers, history and the movies. He has co-authored The Hundred Luminaries of Hindi Cinema and Indian Cinema, The Bollywood Saga with Dinesh Raheja. Besides his long tenure as Deputy Editor of Movie magazine, he has also scripted the BBC TV show Film India and worked on the film section of India Today online.

Kothari's commitment to documenting cinema history was shaped from personal journals in which he has, for years, recorded his comments on classic movies as well as filmographies of numerous creative entities connected to the Hindi film world.