Guru Dutt

Guru Dutt's accolades are not the trophy kind. His reputation rests on canonisation: Pyaasa was named to Time magazine's list of the 100 greatest movies, and CNN placed him among its Top 25 Asian Actors in 2012, decades after his death. Kaagaz Ke Phool, a flop on release, now appears on most lists of the greatest Hindi films ever made. Critics compare his mastery of mood and lighting to Orson Welles. His centenary in 2025 brought retrospectives from the BBC, NFDC India and All India Radio. That is a rare kind of honour: not a shelf of trophies, but a permanent place in the canon.