Baazi, 1951

In 1946 during the shooting of the film Hum Ek Hain, the hero of that movie Dev Anand and its assistant director Guru Dutt made a personal deal – if Guru Dutt were to direct a film, Dev Anand would star in it and if Anand were to produce a film, Dutt would direct.

In 1949 Dev Anand launched his own banner, Navketan. Its first film was not a financial success thus Dev remembering his deal with Dutt invited him to do a film for Navketan. What ensued was the box-office hit Baazi, Dutt’s directorial debut.

The film stars Dev Anand, Geeta Bali and Kalpana Karthik in the lead roles. Perhaps it was Baazi that set the trend of urban crime film which ruled the Bollywood in the 50’s. The film was also a musical hit with the notes composed by S.D. Burman. In fact Burman’s music also changed Dutt’s life for it was during the recording of a song in Baazi that Dutt met his life-partner Geeta Roy, both fall in love and married later.