Aar Paar

Aar Paar
Poster
Directed byGuru Dutt
Written byAbrar Alvi (dialogues)
Screenplay byNabendu Ghosh
Produced byGuru Dutt
StarringGuru Dutt
Shyama
Shakila
CinematographyV. K. Murthy
Edited byY. G. Chawhan
Music byO. P. Nayyar
Production
company
Guru Dutt Productions
Release date
  • 1954 (1954)
CountryIndia
LanguageHindi

Aar Paar (transl. This or That) is a 1954 Indian Hindi-language noir comedy film. Directed by Guru Dutt, it has music by O.P. Nayyar and lyrics by Majrooh Sultanpuri. Aar-Paar stars Johnny Walker, Shyama, Shakila, Jagdeep, Jagdish Sethi. Raj Khosla and Atma Ram, Guru Dutt's brother assisted Guru Dutt in film direction.[1]

It is written in an article by ThePrint, which states "the beauty of Aar Paar's dialogue is that every character speaks in a language that reflects where they're from, their upbringing and education. Instead of one-size-fits-all Hindi, there's a bit of Punjabi, a bit of Parsi, inflections of Urdu, a smattering of street Bambaiyya, some heartland Hindi mixed with clumsy English. That attention to detail not only made the dialogue more authentic to the character, but also to the city of Bombay, long known for its cosmopolitan population."[2][3][4]

The film had very popular music.[4] The album of the film was ranked #34 in the list of "Best Bollywood Albums of all time" by Film Companion.[5] It was also named the "Best Album of Golden Era" for the year 1954 in the 7th Mirchi Music Awards, 2014.

  1. ^ Dinesh Raheja (5 June 2003). "Aar Paar: A noir comedy". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
  2. ^ Sood, Samira (4 July 2020). "Aar Paar, Guru Dutt's 1954 film that initiated authentic, realistic dialogue by Abrar Alvi". ThePrint. Archived from the original on 7 July 2020. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
  3. ^ "Changing face of Mumbai in Hindi cinema". The Times of India. 28 October 2014. Archived from the original on 24 May 2015. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
  4. ^ a b Bhattacharjee, Rudradeep (28 September 2017). "Audio master: The blockbuster combination of Guru Dutt and OP Nayyar in 'Aar Paar'". Scroll.in. Archived from the original on 18 April 2021. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
  5. ^ Nair, Vipin (6 October 2017). "#34 Aar Paar: Top 100 Bollywood Albums". Film Companion. Archived from the original on 16 April 2021. Retrieved 17 April 2021.