Kalu is a taxi-driver in Bombay, India. He has two women who love him and would like to marry him. Kalu first wants to establish himself, and become rich, before he can even think of marriage. One of the women who loves him, has a father who is involved in gangster-type activities, and would like Kalu also to join him so that he can get rich soon. Kalu has now to decide to become rich quick or sleep better.
Direction
Guru Dutt frames Bombay like a fever dream of neon and shadow.
Cinematography
Those taxi sequences? Pure kinetic poetry before it was cool.
Acting
Johnny Walker's comic relief lands harder than most leads.
Director
Guru Dutt
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was Dutt's first full directorial control after studio battles—he basically said 'watch me' and invented his own visual grammar.
The taxi as symbol of post-Independence mobility—Kalu's ambition mirrors a nation's, and Dutt knew it.
IN
