I first watched Guide (1965) as a nihilistic 19-year-old swayed by bad times and some depression. I found Raju’s losses comparable to my own. He loses hope. His friends. His love. And his reputation.

He’s in need of a reset.

I was a year out of college. Everyone had moved on to making decisions about their future careers and moving out for university. I was still stuck in my Northern industrial city, Sheffield. And had no idea about what I wanted to pursue.

It was a scary time. Growing up always is. And having no plan is worse.

I came across Guide as someone had uploaded the full film on YouTube. I can’t remember if I saw Guide first or Dev Anand’s interview with Simi Garewal first¹. But both mediums became a staple and philosophical reference for my frame of mind for at least a year.

Na sukh hai. Na dukh hai. Na Din hai. Na Dunya. Na insaan. Na Bhagwaan. Sirf main hu. Sirf main.

There is no happiness, no sorrow. No religion. No world. Not Man. Not God. Just I. Just I.

– Raju

Luckily, I understood Hindi/Urdu fluently enough to watch the unsubtitled version. Perks of Pakistani heritage.

And I was obsessed with the stoic philosophy offered by Guide and Dev Anand.

To be fair, looking into various interviews of the lead actor, Dev, he seemed obsessed with Guide too. Right through his life. And rightly so².

Interestingly, his brother Vijay Anand directed the film. Interviews later confirm there was actually two other directors planning to run the film, until it settled on Vijay³.

Guide starts with Raju (Dev Anand) being released from prison. At that moment he decides rather than going home to his family and friends to choose an alternative path. Walking wherever the wind takes him. No destination in mind.

He is homeless. Free. Lonely. Reborn. Vulnerable.

As he travels by foot on long plains of land, he finds shelter in a temple belonging to a small rural village community. Some travelling holy-men cover Raju in an orange cloak whilst he’s sleeping.

Flashbacks piece together Raju’s journey. Raju is shown as a quick witted and street-smart tour guide. A master of many languages and dialects, he gets on very well with his tourists. A charmer and a gentleman. Enjoying his humble, fulfilling life.

Elsewhere Rosie (Waheeda Rehman), a young woman whose mother is a courtesan, is struggling to make an impression as a dancer because of her family background.

In her community it is believed that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Other prostitutes try many times to get Rosie into the business of prostitution.

Rosie’s mother thinks otherwise, advising Rosie that marriage to a successful historian may allow her to elevate in society’s ranks and guarantee her a life of comfort.

Rosie is hesitant but does not have many options. This could be her ticket to a better life.

Rosie’s husband, Marco (Kishore Sahu) is very successful as a historian, alluding to his large house, but as a partner does not fulfil Rosie’s emotional desires. His methodology is one way. He is the provider and his career comes first.

Guide is very special to me. It opened my eyes as to what Bollywood and the subcontinent had been capable of for many decades. Making thought-provoking media.

Plus, I had never watched a Hindi film from the 60s.

Based on R.K. Narayan’s novel of the same name, Guide could be described as a film for seekers and philosophers. It includes a journey which perhaps unwraps the reality of life.

 

However, there is not an ounce of pretentiousness or preaching in its message for spiritual fulfilment.

Raju undergoes many phases in his life, all of which are relatively common in a human lifetime, but this does not exclude him from becoming enlightened.

Trials and tribulations are part of the journey after all.

Dev Anand, who left this world in 2011, was regarded as a larger-than-life character. He reigned as a lead actor and producer in Bollywood in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s⁴. Likewise the elegant Waheeda Rehman is a household name also⁵.

There is no doubt both leads are accepted as some of the most successful actors in Bollywood history⁶.

Guide’s classical music album is also very revered. The legendary S.D. Burman⁷ as composer, his authentic touch has allowed Guide’s musical numbers to remain timeless.

Aaj Phir Jeene Ki Tamanna Hai (Today I Again Have A Desire To Live) is still an all-time great which is played regularly on Desi radio stations.

My first watch of Guide was premature. At that time I resonated only with Raju’s heartbreak, distrust, and nihilism. After some maturity and experience, taking time to review it again years later, I saw it with a new lens.

 

Beyond the thorns, there were roses.

 

Raju and Rosie successfully make it from rags to riches. Fame and fortune gets them a big house and better standard of life. Raju however is not like he once was (considerate and sober). He falls into the vices of gambling and heavy drinking.

How many times have we seen this in real life? It happens more than we want it to.

In my first watch, I didn’t understand why Guide’s screenplay described Raju’s life pre-and-post wealth in such detail.

I thought it was overdone for a film which supposedly strives its main message as one of spirituality or search of truth or finding of religion.

But that’s the thing. What you want out of a film is sometimes subjective anyway. You don’t dictate what the film is about, anymore than the next man. It was naïve of me to think so.

The film did make me evaluate my definition of spirituality though. Perhaps I put too much emphasis on humans embodying godliness as the end goal. It inadvertently put me back on the path to solidifying a good relationship with God and Islam.

Once assessing all the human stories around me, in particular the one described in Guide, I learned it is highly importantly to appreciate & accept the chaotic philosophy of yin and yang.

Raju could only appreciate his spirit and soul, once he had savoured the physical luxuries of life also. This was a man who had seen poverty and riches. He had weaknesses and addictions. He could never be narrow-minded in his pursuit of fulfilment.

To present time, Raju with his orange cloak and unshaven face resembles a holy-man to local villagers. The villagers take him as a sign of God and describe spiritual ailments to him. Raju is now referred to as Swami-Ji (Guru).

Quoting traditions from old legends, the village folk describe how holy-men had kept 12 day fasts for their God so He bless them with rain.

Raju knows he is mortal. Yes, he’s had ups & downs and seen it all, but he’s no holy-man. Even then villagers relate Raju’s peaceful and chaotic lives to that of previous mystics.

The belief of thousands of villagers are now reliant upon Raju for rain to come down.

The film then cleverly suggests how the pinnacle of faith is relying on the strong beliefs of regular people.

It was Napoleon Hill, the celebrated author, who said, “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve”.⁸

Raju goes days without food, prohibiting himself for the sake of his new family. Occasionally he sees visions. The voice of God perhaps reassuring him.

 

This verse of the Holy Quran is fitting: “My Lord neither errs nor forgets” – Surah TaHa, Verse 52⁹

 

Guide is still celebrated as one of Hindi cinema’s greatest spiritual films and is arguably Dev Anand’s most popular acting work.

The philosophy offered in Guide is focusing on the self through deep contemplative thought. For a film from the 60s, it is a commentary on human selfishness and human selflessness. Religion and agnosticism. Spirituality and faith. Mortality and immortality.

My first watch was as a rebellious doubter in my teens, but later I watched it as a solidified man of faith. Alhamdullilah (Praise be to God). The two mindsets make your perspective completely different.

Watch it if you can find it with English subtitles. Interestingly, they shot another version of the film in English anyway, but I don’t think it holds to the original.

I finish with what Viktor Frankl, survivor of the Holocaust, put when reflecting on the finality of Man in the German camps:

“What remained was the individual person. The human being—and nothing else. Everything had fallen away from him in those years: Money, power, fame; nothing was certain for him anymore: Not life, not health, not happiness; All had been called into question for him… Everything that was not essential was melted down—the Human Being reduced to what he was in the last analysis…”¹⁰

 

References

[1] Garewal, Simi. Rendezvous with Dev Anand (2004), YouTube, 28 Feb. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Y7lQ2ez7r4.

[2] WildFilmsIndia.com. Dev Anand on “guide” and “Evil within” and Manohar Malgonkar’s Book Influences, YouTube, 29 June 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pkb7nE1StS4.

[3] Garewal, Simi. Rendezvous with Waheeda Rehman Part 2 (2003), YouTube, 13 Oct. 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADhp_f6npqI.

[4] Al Jazeera English. One on One – Dev Anand, YouTube, 10 Apr. 2010, www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5HCbCKAF3Q.

[5] WildFilmsIndia.com. Waheeda Rehman on the Differences between Vijay Anand and Dev Anand, YouTube, 7 Aug. 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=O26RObybQLE.

[6] Garewal, Simi. Rendezvous with Waheeda Rehman Part 1 (2003), YouTube, 13 Oct. 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdSBd4301U4.

[7] Movie Mahal, BBC. Dev Anand on SD Burman, YouTube, 25 Mar. 2022, www.youtube.com/shorts/AvJKw1i_kD8.

[8] Hill, Napoleon. “Chapter 2: A Definite Chief Aim.” The Law of Success in Sixteen Lessons, Wilder Publications, 2011, p. 66.

[9] Sahih International. “Chapter 20, Verse 52.” The Quranic Arabic Corpus – Translation, https://corpus.quran.com/translation.jsp?chapter=20&verse=52. Accessed 9 Mar. 2024.

[10] Popova, Maria. “Yes to Life, in Spite of Everything: Viktor Frankl’s Lost Lectures on Moving Beyond Optimism and Pessimism to Find the Deepest Source of Meaning.” The Marginalian, 17 May 2020, https://www.themarginalian.org/2020/05/17/yes-to-life-in-spite-of-everything-viktor-frankl/.