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Reply to "Guide (1965)"

Synopsis

Raju (Dev Anand), once a successful tourist guide, hesitates to return to his hometown of Udaipur after his release from jail and decides to search for his fortunes elsewhere. He ends up in a remote village temple wearing over his threadbare clothes a saffron scarf which had once belonged to some passing mendicant, and finds himself suddenly elevated to the position of a holy man. Six months pass; Raju's mother (Leela Chitnis) and Rosie, a dancer and Raju's lover (Waheeda Rehman), arrive at the jail to take him home but are told he was let off six months earlier. Rosie takes Raju's mother home and relates her own side of the story. She was the daughter of a professional temple dancer who, in an attempt to give her a respectable existence, married her off to a middle-aged archeologist, Marco (Kishore Sahu), who not only had no time for her but also forced her to leave dancing as it was not considered a respectable pastime. On an excavation, they took Raju as their guide and while Marco spent his days and nights at an excavation site, drinking and whoring, the rebellious and neglected Rosie tried to commit suicide. She was saved by Raju, in love with her by now, and encouraged by him to leave Marco and lead a life of her own. Rosie left Marco and and came to live with Raju. Naturally tongues wagged at the sanctity of their 'live-in' relationship and soon Raju was abandoned by all his friends and even his mother. Neglecting his own career, Raju groomed Rosie to become a professional dancer. Soon Rosie became the rage of the country as Nalini and Raju suddenly found himself a rich man, but their personal relationship started to deteriorate when he took to drinking and gambling with this new found wealth. When Marco tried to reenter Rosie's life, Raju forged Rosie's signature in an attempt to keep him away from her. Meanwhile, failing to revive the relationship they used to share, Raju left Rosie and went back home. However Raju's forgery was discovered and he was arrested. Though she initially misunderstood his motives, Rosie met him in jail and promised to wait for him. Back to the present. Raju now has got accustomed to being a holy man, but in that role he has actually helped the village to acquire its own school, hospital and postal service. One day he tells the villagers a story his mother had told him long ago of another holy man who had kept a fast for twelve days to bring rain to a parched land. Unfortunately, before the story is forgotten, drought hits the village. The villagers beg him to fast for them. For Raju the playacting becomes the reality. He starts believing that this is a task assigned to him by god. Raju's mother and Rosie reach there and watch helplessly as Raju slowly drifts towards death due to the fasting. The rains come at last, and while the villagers dance wildly outside, Raju dies of starvation....


The film

Source
Mitwah
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