The Hyderabad Film Club

Hyderabad Film Club is a premier film society and is widely recognized as a flagship in the movement for good cinema in this part of the country. Popularly known as HFC, the Hyderabad Film Club has been spearheading a virtual 'long march' towards meaningful cinema creating awareness and exhorting film buffs to discern and develop a taste for meaningful cinema. In the last 27 years of its chequered history (established in 1974) HFC has shown a spirited resolve to inform more and more people and make them aware that cinema is culture and not mere entertainment.

Hyderabad Film Club celebrated its Silver Jubilee in 1999 and we are sure it is still green in the public memory. The grand 'Movie Mela'(a month long film festival) at the spacious Hari Hara Kala Bhavan, the purposeful seminar and those thought provoking discussions have earned us many new friends and some new members.

With the resounding success of a series of film festivals in the first half of this year, the Club has lined up more festivals featuring some rare films from different and far off countries.

The Norwegian film festival, with a package of 8 films, is scheduled to be held from August 17 to 24; a five-film Israeli festival from September 10 to 14 and a retrospective of famed Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf in the month October, 2001.

GURU DUTT FILM FESTIVAL

The festival of Guru Dutt films will feature 10 of his films, from Baazi to Sahib Bibi Aur Gulam from September 20 to 29, 2001, at Hari Hara Kala Bhavan, Secunderabad. A souvenir is being published to mark the occasion with invaluable information on Guru Dutt and his cinema.

Hyderabad Film Club earnestly requests its members and the admirers of good cinema to stand by us and help in putting together this stupendous 10-days film festival.

Guru Dutt - The Hamlet of Films!

Guru Dutt(Gurudutta Sivasankara Padukone) was born in a Saraswath Brahmin family in Managlore on 9th July, 1925. Guru was educated in Calcutta where his father worked and grown up in a cross culture dominated by Bengali ethos. He was never a keen student but showed immense interest in artistic expression. He learnt dance at the Almora dance academy of the illustrious Udaya Sankar from 1942 to 1944. This is how he began his film career as a choreographer. Guru Dutt first appeared in a minor role in a Prabhat film company production (Lakha Rani-1945) and went on to become a legend in the history of Indian Cinema.

Guru, owing, perhaps, to his inadequate institutional education could never come to terms with the kind of professional order that was required for a big success. His critics claimed this was evident in the abandonment of several of his projects mid way. But this so called 'weakness' never subdue his genius and this small time telephone operator transformed into a master of cinema crating a series of black & white classics like Baazi, Jaal, Aaar Paar, Pyassa, Kaagaz ke Phool, Saahib, Bibi Aur Gulaam. Guru Dutt introduced Waheeda Rehman, then a little known Andhra actress to Hindi cinema in his film C.I.D (1956). His association with some former IPTA creative brains in Bombay helped him in cinema. He developed a style of his own merging the John Huston type of realism with thematic layers and by effectively using litting music and haunting re-recording. Very few people know that it was Guru Dutt who produced a film in Cinemascope in India.

Though a bundle of contradictions (he, reportedly asked a friend to pray for the success of 'Kaanoon' -not his own film - which had no songs!), Guru Dutt managed to overcome all that was 'negative ' and turned 'positive' masterpieces for posterity. But alas, this master of narration could not gain control over that pestering desire to leave this world and ended his life on 10th October 1964. Guru Dutt was so different, so unique, so creative with a stamp all his own. He was so different even in his death!

GURU DUTT FILM FESTIVAL
Date: September 20-29, 2001
Venue: Hari Hara Kala Bhavan, Secunderabad

LIST OF FESTIVAL FILMS

1. BAAZI (1951)
2. JAAL (1952)
3. BAAZ (1953)
4. AAR PAAR (1954)
5. Mr. & Mrs. 55 (1955)
6. C.I.D. (1956)
7. PYASA (1957)
8. KAGAZ KE PHOOL (1959)
9. CHAUDHWIN KA CHAND (1960)
10. .SHAIB BIBI AUR GULAM (1962)
    

Films Courtesy:
National Film Archive of India, Pune

How to obtain passes:

You can pay a quarterly membership of Rs 250/- and can watch all the films for free. The brochures of the forthcoming films list would be sent to you by snail mail. You can enroll yourself as a member at Hari Hara Kala Bhavan during the festival time.

H.F.C's Executive Committee

1. Mr.B.NARASING RAO
   President
2. Mr.PAUL SHARMA
   Vice President
3. Mr.M.V.RAGHU
   Vice President
4. Mr.Bh.S.S.PRAKASH REDDY
   Secreterary
5. Mr.U.SURENDRA
   Joint Secretary
6. Mr.I.V.GIRIDHAR
   Organising Secretary
7. Mr.T.VIJAYENDRA
   Member
8. Mr.C.R.DEVARAJ
   Member
9. Mr.K.S.ANAND
   Member
10. Mr.K.ANAND
    Member
11. Mr.H.K.BABU
    Member
    

FILM FESTIVAL COMMITTEE

1. Mr.K.B.Tilak,
   Film Director
2. Mr.Thammareddi Bharadwaja,
   Film Director
3. Ms.Aparajita Roy Sinha,
   Culture & Communications
4. Mr.k.Aditya,
   Film Director
5. Mr.Devipriya,
   Sr.Journalist & Film-maker
6. Mr.S.Jaya Surya,
   Freelancer, Film Critic
7. Ms.Amita Talwar,
   Editor,Channel 6
8. Mr.Sumanspati Reddy,
   All India Radio
9. Mr.K.Krishna Mohan Reddy,
   General Secretary,
   A.P Film Directors Association
10. Mr.Parashuram
    Film Director
11. B Sandesh,
    Film Artist
    
12. Mr.K.S.Rami Reddy,
    Film Director
13. Mr.M.Vedakumar,
    Chairman, Children's Film Society, A.P
14. Mr.Jagan
    Sr.Journalist
15. Mr.Mandava Gopala Krishna
    Film Producer
16. Mr.Vemuri Satyanarayana
    Film Writer

Know More about Guru Dutt:

• Biography
• Filmography
• Photo Galley