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{{short description|Book by Nasreen Munni Kabir}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}}
{{Use Indian English|date=June 2021}}
{{Infobox book
| name = Yours Guru Dutt
| image = Yours Guru Dutt cover.jpg
| caption =
| author = [[Nasreen Munni Kabir]]
| country = India
| language = English
| series =
| release_number =
| subject = [[Guru Dutt]]
| genre = Biography
| set_in =
| publisher = [[Roli Books]]
| published = 2006
| media_type = Print
| pages = 168
| isbn = 978-81-74363-88-6
| isbn_note =
| oclc = 494710408
| dewey =
| congress =
| preceded_by =
| followed_by =
| notes =
| exclude_cover =
}}
'''''Yours Guru Dutt''''' is a 2006 book by the British author and television documentary producer [[Nasreen Munni Kabir]], containing a total of 37 handwritten letters in both [[English language|English]] and [[Hindi]] by the Indian actor and filmmaker [[Guru Dutt]]—most of which are addressed to his wife [[Geeta Dutt|Geeta]]. The book, published by [[Roli Books]] and became Kabir's second book about Dutt after ''Guru Dutt: A Life in Cinema'' (1996), was commercially successful. It garnered positive critical acclaim, with some reviewers noting the elegance in his letters.

== Summary and release ==
The book was the British author and television documentary producer [[Nasreen Munni Kabir]]'s third work on the Indian filmmaker-cum-actor [[Guru Dutt]], after the documentary ''[[In Search of Guru Dutt]]'' (1989) and the book ''Guru Dutt: A Life in Cinema'' (1996).<ref>{{cite news |url=https://scroll.in/reel/867662/nasreen-munni-kabir-on-the-art-of-interviewing-dont-be-a-fan-never-be-bigger-than-your-subject |title=Nasreen Munni Kabir on the art of interviewing: ‘Don’t be a fan; never be bigger than your subject’ |date=7 February 2018 |website=[[Scroll.in]] |last=Ramnath |first=Nandini |access-date=24 July 2021 |archive-date=11 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190811051013/https://scroll.in/reel/867662/nasreen-munni-kabir-on-the-art-of-interviewing-dont-be-a-fan-never-be-bigger-than-your-subject |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Guru Dutt: A Life in Cinema |date=10 October 1996 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |last=Kabir |first=Nasreen Munni |author-link=Nasreen Munni Kabir |isbn=978-01-95638-49-3 }}</ref> ''Yours Guru Dutt'' contains thirty-seven handwritten letters from him: thirty three to his wife, [[Geeta Dutt|Geeta]], and the rests to his son, Arun and Tarun. Kabir obtained the letters along with his passport, his reading glasses, and his leather wallet in 2004 from Arun. She said, "Guru Dutt's brief and tragic life is captured in these beautiful and now over fifty-year-old letters. The very sight of these letters is evocative of a past when letter-writing itself had a kind of romanticism, giving meaning and pleasure to both the person writing and the person for whom the letter was intended."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/news-archive/unmaking-of-guru-dutt-letter-by-letter/ |title=Unmaking of Guru Dutt, Letter by Letter |date=15 January 2006 |work=[[The Indian Express]] |last=Kabir |first=Nasreen Munni |access-date=24 July 2021 |archive-date=1 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301073632/https://indianexpress.com/article/news-archive/unmaking-of-guru-dutt-letter-by-letter/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Kabir said in an interview with ''[[The Telegraph (Kolkata)|The Telegraph]]'' that it was to be released in 2005, coinciding with Geeta's 75th birth anniversary, however, the elaborate designing process and the poor condition of the letters, made it was postponed to the next year.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/west-bengal/musings-of-melancholy-man/cid/1278973 |title=Musings of melancholy man |date=2006 |work=[[The Telegraph (Kolkata)|The Telegraph]] |access-date=24 July 2021 |archive-date=23 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210723125754/https://www.telegraphindia.com/west-bengal/musings-of-melancholy-man/cid/1278973 |url-status=live }}</ref> Published by [[Roli Books]], the book turned to be a commercial success and was met with positive reviews from [[Literary criticism|book critics]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20060205/spectrum/book12.htm |title=Bestsellers |date=5 February 2006 |work=[[The Tribune (Chandigarh)|The Tribune]] |access-date=24 July 2021 |archive-date=23 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210723062954/https://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20060205/spectrum/book12.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Indrajit Hazra from the ''[[Hindustan Times]]'' wrote, "Guru Dutt's handwriting, jumping off the pages in clear larger-than-reputation size and colour, seems to be as much part of the director's oeuvre."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india/guru-dutt-a-life-in-cinema/story-ExBSh9ViMtKUjDfeuvVvuI.html |title=Guru Dutt: A Life in Cinema |date=4 February 2006 |work=[[Hindustan Times]] |last=Hazra |first=Indrajit |access-date=24 July 2021 |archive-date=23 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210723060803/https://www.hindustantimes.com/india/guru-dutt-a-life-in-cinema/story-ExBSh9ViMtKUjDfeuvVvuI.html |url-status=live }}</ref> ''[[The Tribune (Chandigarh)|The Tribune]]''{{'s}} Ambika Sharma believed the book "reflects the true Guru Dutt and provides us with an insight into his turbulent life. It is a tribute to his wife on her seventy-fifth birth anniversary", and added that Kabir has done a well work.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20060528/spectrum/book2.htm |title=Mr and Mrs 53 |date=28 May 2006 |work=The Tribune |last=Sharma |first=Ambika |access-date=24 July 2021 |archive-date=15 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150915050914/http://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20060528/spectrum/book2.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

Kaveree Bamzai of ''[[India Today]]'' observed of it, "The letters are like the chronicle of a death foretold. Dutt's mood swings, his declarations of love, his frustration and his confusion, all pour through the pages of a book which is as elegant as a frame lit by Dutt's magical lens."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/society-the-arts/books/story/20060123-books-on-bollywood-yours-guru-dutt-the-art-of-cinema-behind-the-scenes-of-hindi-cinema-bollywood-films-783784-2006-01-23 |title=Cinema paradiso |date=23 January 2006 |work=India Today |last=Bamzai |first=Kaveree |access-date=24 July 2021 |archive-date=24 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210724111955/https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/society-the-arts/books/story/20060123-books-on-bollywood-yours-guru-dutt-the-art-of-cinema-behind-the-scenes-of-hindi-cinema-bollywood-films-783784-2006-01-23 |url-status=live }}</ref> The critic and social commentator [[Ziya Us Salam]] declared that Kabir "has just walked down the anonymity lane",<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-metroplus/pain-revisited/article3186060.ece |title=Pain revisited |date=21 January 2006 |work=The Hindu |last=Salam |first=Ziya Us |author-link=Ziya Us Salam |access-date=24 July 2021 |archive-date=24 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210724111955/https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-metroplus/pain-revisited/article3186060.ece |url-status=live }}</ref> and Ajit Duara, who wrote for ''[[The Hindu]]'' called the publication a "elegantly-produced book", further mentioning that the letters are also important addition of biographical material on Dutt.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-literaryreview/eerie-connection/article3219026.ece |title=Eerie connection |date=5 March 2006 |work=The Hindu |last=Duara |first=Ajit |access-date=24 July 2021 |archive-date=29 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180629012852/https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-literaryreview/eerie-connection/article3219026.ece |url-status=live }}</ref> Reviewing the book for ''[[Outlook (Indian magazine)|Outlook]]'' magazine, the academic [[Shiv Visvanathan]] referred to it as a "beautifully-produced collection" and praised the footnotes on every letters as "a piece of scholarship". However, he was disappointed since there are no Geeta's response letters of Dutt's letters to her that appear in the book.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://magazine.outlookindia.com/story/lukewarm-love-guru/230159 |title=Lukewarm Love Guru |last=Visvanathan |first=Shiv |author-link=Shiv Visvanathan |work=[[Outlook (Indian magazine)|Outlook]] |date=13 February 2006 |access-date=24 July 2021 |archive-date=23 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210723055926/https://magazine.outlookindia.com/story/lukewarm-love-guru/230159 |url-status=live }}</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{Google books|id=VAFlAAAAMAAJ}}

[[Category:2006 non-fiction books]]
[[Category:Biographies about actors]]
[[Category:Books about Guru Dutt]]
[[Category:Indian biographies]]
[[Category:Indian non-fiction books]]

Yours Guru Dutt - Revision history

->Nicholas Michael Halim: /* External links */