Guru Dutt’s career as a filmmaker was buffeted by extreme reversals of fortune. Within eight short months of the box office debacle of Kaagaz Ke Phool, Guru Dutt released his next production, Chaudhvin Ka Chand (1960), an epic romance that proved tremendously popular.

The film’s thematic nucleus is the deep emotional connection between two friends, Aslam and Pyaare Miyan, which is put to the test when they fall in love with the same woman. Chaudhvin Ka Chand presents romantic intensity and fraternal sacrifice with heightened emotionality but also dries out the moistness with splashes of well-scripted humour. The story’s appeal is enhanced by director M Sadiq, a Bollywood veteran from the 1940s, who imbues this Lucknowi tale with the honour and tahzeeb of a bygone era.

Chaudhvin Ka Chand: The Original Screenplay archives the screenplay of this film and also incorporates insightful interviews of actors Waheeda Rehman and Farida Dadi, production associate Shyam Kapoor, make-up man Baburao Pawaskar and costume designer Bhanu Athaiya. Guru Dutt’s movies determined the trajectory of many a film artiste’s success story and his artful presentation of ideas shaped the course of Hindi films – this verity is examined in an essay by authors Dinesh Raheja and Jitendra Kothari. The films made under the aegis of Guru Dutt Films Pvt Ltd. are an ineluctable part of Hindi cinema’s Belle epoque and this book is one of a compendium on three ageless classics – Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam, Chaudhvin Ka Chand and Kaagaz Ke Phool.