One day, Guru Dutt handed me a letter. 'Read it,' he said. I opened it gingerly and saw that it was signed 'Yours, Waheeda'. I looked at him, but he said again, 'Read it.'
The letter was a torrid declaration of love. It said: 'I need to talk to you, I can't hold myself back, so I am writing to you, you have driven me to distraction, I am losing my senses, I don't know what you have done to me...' And so on. The letter ended with a request for an assignation. 'Today at 6.30 to 7, meet me at Nariman Point.'
When I looked up after reading the letter, Guru Dutt asked, 'What do you think?'
I replied, 'I don't think Waheeda has written this.'
'I agree,' Guru Dutt said.
I said, 'You meet her every day, have enough opportunity to meet her in private, in her make-up room. Why would she write this, and why would she want to meet you in a public place like Nariman Point? Why call you there?'
We decided on a plan. He would drive towards Nariman Point and stop near the Cricket Club of India. I would, in my car, take another road, and check out who came there.
I took my second-hand khatara car and parked it in the by-lane next to the CCI. I knew where Guru Dutt was waiting and watching. I saw a car approach and slow down near Nariman Point. Geeta Dutt and Smriti Biswas were sitting in the backseat of the chauffeur-driven car. It moved to the Nariman Point area, waited and watched and then moved on to Marine Drive. I followed the car and went back to Guru Dutt, who had seen the whole drama.
I think this was the first time, that night after going home, that he confronted Geeta with the episode and, as he confessed to me later, raised his hand on her.
Advertisement
