Baazi

The film is notable for two reasons:first, being the directorial debut of Guru Dutt and second, it was the film which inspired many urban crime thrillers in the fifties.

The story basically revolves in the shady part of the city with a morally ambiguous hero played to perfection by Dev Anand(this film also marked the coming of Devanand as a superstar), supported well by Kalpana Kartik and Geeta Bali. The songs are a treat to listen, each one of them being a gem.

A fine piece of filmmaking from Guru Dutt, who would later go on to make even bigger classics. Recommended to watch.

This was Navketan's second production, after "Afsar". Dev Anand, the Producer, gave chance to Guru Dutt to make his directorial debut. The story of an urban unemployed youth taking to crime because of circumstances, has excellent performance from Geeta Bali and equally unforgettable music by S. D. Burman, who experimented with the Ghazal format, in its orchestration, for the first time with the song "Tadbeer se bigdi hui taqdeer bana le". With this film Dev Anand picked up his style, which were to keep him on top, alongwith Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor, for decades to come.

Baazi (1951) - 100%

A Landmark Film From Maverick Director & Actor Guru Dutt... "Baazi" Is Remembered As The Flick Which Made Dev Anand An Overnight Sensation, But That's Only A Part Of It's Mammoth Achievements... It Introduced A New Genre Called "Bombay Noir" Which Became Quite Popular In The 1950s... It Also Launched The Careers Of Singer Geeta Dutt, Actors Geeta Bali, Kalpana Kartik & Johnny Walker & Screenplay Writer Balraj Sahni Who Later Went On To Become An Acclaimed Artist As Well... The Most Interesting Part Is, The Movie's Still Fresh & Highly Entertaining Even After 70+ Years Of Release & I Would Give The Credit To Its Making Which Is Truly World Class.

It's a fascinating Indian take on Gilda also borrowing bits from Destry Rides Again and Casablanca among others. The print is in a wobbly condition after all these years and even looks at times like it might have been close to combustion, but the poetry and the poetry of the music by S. D. Burman shines through. I don't do gambling, so I'm glad that even with the title of The Gamble there wasn't much gambling – but I'd still bet most people on the planet will never watch this. It was the first film Guru Dutt directed – he even gave himself a bit part smoking away at the start of the picture.

The previous post gives it nearly all away, but Dev Anand plays a basically honest young buck prone to gambling employed by dodgy boss of dingy nightclub to entice in and then fleece rich suckers. He does this to make sure he has enough money to pay for his sisters' recovery from TB, simultaneously he falls in love with a lady doctor (Kalpana Kartik, his real-life future wife) with a rather dodgy and forbidding father. I found the playful performance of Geeta Bali portraying prostitute Nina delightful – she danced well to some superb tunes - made both by the lovely music and the honourable emotions aroused within her by Anand. Years ago I used to smoke 30 a day but never blew cigarette smoke so forcibly into other people's faces as do a lot of the characters a lot of the time in here! The police inspector was no sluggard either, he was almost too noble to be true. Was this skinny Johnny Walker's first film ever? Geeta Dutt did most of the singing, my favourite of course being the philosophical Tadbir Se Bigdi Hui Taqdeer Bana Le – such a perfect jolly fusion of East & West pop. Also nice and jolly was Dekh Ke Akeli Mohe Barkha Sataaye. Wheeee, talk about catchy tunes!

All in all, a lovely little film with a lot of interesting musical and dramatic scenes, cheaply churned out but still entertaining all these years later.

Story: Routine with no substance Madan, a struggling young man, gets entangled in a life of gambling and deception. He falls for Dr. Rajani, but her father disapproves. Madan faces challenges and ultimately finds a way out.

The story was a pioneering experiment in the crime drama genre, but it leaned more towards drama than crime. The ideology of film was also repetitive where the poor exploited by rich. The story didn't narrated the back story which seemed to be very important. The narrative was predictable from the start, lacking substantial surprises. The inclusion of unnecessary scenes disrupted the continuity, ultimately leading to a rushed and unimpactful climax.

Screenplay: Unnecessarily slow & unimpactful The screenplay suffered from a sluggish pace due to the inclusion of extraneous scenes, which is often a consequence of a weak narrative foundation. While the lead pair shared a palpable chemistry, the love triangle fell flat due to the writer's inability to effectively convey the emotional depth and complexity of the relationships. The focus of the writer was more on the love story than the self discovery of Madan.

Characters: Shallow Madan: He was a poor unemployed man whose sister was sick thus he started gambling for money. He was shown a good hearted and family oriented person. The writer showed him lucky in gambling.

Leena: Her character was totally useless as lacked any importance or relevance. She was a bar dancer who truly loved madan.

Rajani: She was a doctor who treated Madan's sister. She was shown a kind hearted person who loved Madan unconditionally. She always wanted good for Madan.

Manju: She was sister of Madan. She was suffering from tuberculosis infection. Her character was irrelevant apart from this.

Ramesh: He was a police officer and childhood friend of Rajani. He loved Rajani but she didn't had any feeling for him. He was shown a honest policeman. His character deserved more attention.

Rajani's Father: He was the main antagonist of the film. He maintained a clean imagine of him under which he run a gambling bar.

Rest all character had a irrelevant roles.

Dialogues: Nothing special

Performances: Fair Dev anand: He did good job. The whole film was centered around his character. His expressions were superb.

Geeta bali: She did good job in an irrelevant role. Her dance was beautiful but her character was not upto the mark.

Kalpana Kartik: Her performance was inconsistent as in some scenes she wasl acting too cheesy but in some romantic scenes she looked very gracious.

Roopa Verman: Her role as Manju didn't had anything to do but did her part well.

Krishan Dhawan: He did his part well.

K. N. Singh: He did his role well but a strong antagonist could enhance the film.

Rest all actors had small roles.

Direction: Mediocre Some scenes were shot good especially the romantic ones but some irrelevant scenes broke the continuity. The direction failed miserably in capturing intense emotions of characters.

Music and BGM: Good In some scenes BGM was absent which killed the intensity. But all songs were superb with exceptional lyrics.

Editing: Average

Production value: To the point

Ideology: The writer's ambitious attempt to craft a socially relevant film incorporating crime, drama, thriller, and love triangle elements fell flat, as none of these aspects were developed with sufficient intensity or depth, ultimately resulting in a disjointed and unimpressive narrative.

Final verdict: The script lacked substance, with a weak storyline, an inconsequential love triangle, and a sluggish screenplay. The emotional scenes felt shallow, and the character development was inadequate, ultimately resulting in a poorly written film. Performance of Dev Anand was superb along with excellent songs. Overall a poorly written film with nothing much to offer.

0.25- Story 0.25- Screenplay 0.25- Characters 0.25- Dialogues 0.5- Direction 0.5- Performances 1- Songs & BGM 0.5- Editing 0.5- Production value.