An emotional tour de force, Kaagaz Ke Phool explores the pendulous swings in a film director’s career and its impact on his relations with his lead actress, his wife and his daughter. His precipitous decline- his creativity suffers, his films flop and he is indifferently tossed aside by his parent studio - synthesises Dutt’s observations on the evanescent nature of fame. Kaagaz Ke Phool proved eerily prescient for Guru Dutt, whose art obsessed him, fuelled him and felled him.

Besides archiving the screenplay of this classic, this book also incorporates insightful interviews of Dutt’s leading lady Waheeda Rehman, assistant director Shyam Kapoor, friend Dev Anand and brother-cum-colleague Devi Dutt. Iconic cinematographer V K Murthy reveals how he crafted the film’s eloquent frames and the chiaroscurist lighting that have long fascinated cineastes.

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 part of a compendium of books on three ageless classics - Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam, Chaudhvin Ka Chand and Kaagaz Ke Phool.