The burden of genius can be hard to carry. Guru Dutt, the maker of several intelligent films, was discovered dead of an overdose of sleeping pills at the age of 39. It is still being debated whether the death was an accident or suicide.

Guru Dutt's pensive, reserved personality seemed to melt right into the disturbed characters that he often played in his films. His films like Pyaasa and Kagaz Ke Phool were about the protagonist's relationship with worldy fame; and Dutt himself seemed to have trouble reconciling to its exigencies.

After Kagaz Ke Phool flopped in 1959, Dutt made and planned several films but refused to lend his name to any. He was depressed. His discovery Waheeda Rehman had gone her own way after several films together. He was estranged from his wife, the singer Geeta Dutt, who was living separately with their children.