PYAASA - The Ways Of The Greedy World !

[Pyaasa means thirsty in Hindi. Thirsty for love in the context of this movie.]

Pyaasa is a old movie (1957) in B&W considered a classic of the Hindi moviedom. According to Wikipedia, this movie was named one of the best movies of all time by Time magazine. It follows the standard format of a Hindi movie of the time while telling a story serious enough to be called a classic. There is the usual comic (Johnny Walker) friend of the hero. There are quite a few songs. However, it is the lyrics and their picturization that make the movie special. The poet expresses his thoughts thru his poems and I cannot do justice here in translating the poems into English...

The story is about a dejected and disenchanted poet who wants to get his poems printed but faces repeated rejection even though the people around him like his poems very much. His brothers throw him out of their home because he cannot find a job. They sell his poems as trash to a grocer. A girl from the local brothel picks up the file containing his poems and becomes a fan. Meanwhile, the poet becomes suicidal. He hands over his jacket to a beggar on the street which has his suicide note in the pocket. The beggar dies in a train accident and people confuse him with poet. The brothel lady tries to print his poems in his memory with her own money which brings us to the romantic part of the story.

The poet was in love with a nice lady but that lady is married off to a rich book publisher. The publisher becomes aware of their affair. He throws the poet out from his employment which leads to the suicide attempt mentioned above. However, when the brothel lady, with a heart of gold, approaches the publisher to get the poems printed, assuming the poet is dead, the publisher agrees with the intention of making a big profit. However, he gets a telephone call informing him that the poet is alive. The two brothers who had thrown the poet out of their home run to the publisher, shedding crocodile tears, at the loss of their 'beloved' brother and asking for their share of the profit. The publisher asks the two brothers not to identify the poet as their brother and ignore him in case he appears before them. It is his death that has made the poet popular, you see,  much more than when he was alive and everybody wants to 'cash in' on his posthumous fame.

Meanwhile, the poet tries to convince everyone that he is alive but nobody believes him.[They think the poet died in the train crash because of the note in the jacket.] He is locked up in a mental asylum. His comic friend helps him escape from the asylum. As the book publisher holds a (fake) memorial service in his honor with unveiling of the poet's bust, the poet enters the hall filled with people who have come to attend the service in his honor. There is one last song , one last message he delivers ' this world of thrones and crowns and hackneyed traditions, what value is that world even if I manage to own it? Where love is sold for money, where death is cheaper than life.....Burn this world and turn it into trash...that is all it is'!! Then he gets on the podium and announces to the public that they were right, he is not that poet. The poet is dead. The publisher gets the poet thrown out from the hall...

He decides to leave that 'world' and go far, far away from the madding crowd. To the world of religion and piety. And his lady friend from the brothel joins him on his journey.