Pyaasa 1957

Pyaasa

Pyaasa

1957 · India · Directed by Guru Dutt · 139 min

RomanticBleak Great first watch · Easy Musical drama

An unpublished poet is dismissed by family and publishers, then becomes valuable to the same society after he is mistakenly reported dead.

What to expect

Guru Dutt joins songs, romantic melodrama, social satire, and expressionist shadow into an indictment of a culture that markets the suffering it ignored in life. Poetry moves between private feeling and public commodity.

How to ease in

The songs are part of the argument, not interruptions. Notice who listens to Vijay before fame, who profits after his supposed death, and which spaces allow his words to remain human.

Heads-up

A quick, non-exhaustive note Includes poverty, sexual exploitation, suicide references, homelessness, family rejection, police violence, alcohol, and intense disillusionment.
Momo's Note May contain spoilers Who is Momo? →

An unpublished poet is dismissed by family and publishers, then becomes valuable to the same society after he is mistakenly reported dead.

Vijay’s poems travel further when people believe he can no longer object to their use. I listen for the few voices that recognised him before the marketplace invented a more profitable ghost.

Open the note ↓

Vijay’s poems travel further when people believe he can no longer object to their use. I listen for the few voices that recognised him before the marketplace invented a more profitable ghost.

— Momo

Momo sharing a personal take on this film

Credits & versions

Credits

Version map

BFI catalogue presentation139 min139 minutes is attached only to the named BFI catalogue presentation. No unsupported cut, score, territory, frame rate, source element, or restoration detail is inferred.Runtime reference · Checked 2026-08-21

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