Bum Dharma

The Guide is based on a small, sensitive novel by Indian Author R. K. Narayan. In this gross adaptation, filmed in India, Writer Pearl S. Buck and U.S. Director Tad Danielewski leap to their tasks like Yankee traders setting up a souvenir stand in front of the Taj Mahal. What they are peddling are ersatz views of modern India.

Indian Matinee Idol Dev Anand plays a guide ensnared by a wealthy client's wife, Rosie (Waheeda Rehman), who is an accomplished snake dancer. He becomes Rosie's manager, and after her debut at a local high school, fame and fortune are theirs. The guide then turns to gambling and debauchery, goes to jail for forgery, ultimately wins redemption when some gullible provincials mistake him for a holy man. Later, the false sadhu fasts and dies a hero after telling a TV interviewer that life has been mostly Rosie.

Two versions of The Guide exist, one in English with breathless transgressions intact, another in Hindi with all love play omitted to conform to India's strict censorship laws. Such scruples seem wasted on a movie that displays few virtues in any language.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.