By 1962, Guru Dutt’s letters to Geeta Dutt had become infrequent and soon all the correspondence had stopped. They had grown further and further apart. For many years, most people, especially those who did not know Guru Dutt personally, had decided that the love of his life was in fact the lovely talented actress, Waheeda Rahman. And this was perceived as the main cause of tension in Geeta and Guru Dutt’s marriage, leading to a growing rift between them. Geeta Dutt took to drink and gradually distanced herself from Guru Dutt. The Dutt-Rahman relationship was the subject of much gossip and speculation as the idea of loving two women was inconceivable and seen as immoral in the India of the 1950s. The Dutt-Rahman relationship was no doubt close and complex and inextricably connected to his films and creativity. Despite Guru Dutt’s attachment to Waheeda Rahman, this relationship too fell apart and they stopped seeing each other after Sahib Bibi aur Ghulam was completed in 1962.Soon after the Dutts celebrated the first birthday of their only daughter, Nina, it was clear that their marriage was in grave trouble. Conciliation and compromise were no longer immediate options. Some time in 1963, the Dutts moved from the family home to Ashish, a bungalow opposite Dilip Kumar’s house on Pali Hill in Bombay. Within a few months, Guru Dutt once again moved, this time to live alone in a flat on Peddar Road, Geeta Dutt and her three children also moved to an apartment near Mehboob Studios, in Bandra.A year later on 10 October 1964, Geeta Dutt had an uneasy premonition about her husband. The couple had been arguing furiously the previous day about whether the children would go or not to see their father. On the morning of the 10th, Geeta Dutt telephoned her husband’s cook, Rattan. When Rattan said that his master hadn’t got up, she insisted that he break open the locked door to Guru Dutt’s bedroom. It was soon discovered that Guru Dutt, who was only thirty-nine, had died of an overdose of sleeping pills.Excerpted with permission from ‘Yours Guru Dutt: Intimate Letters of a Great Indian Filmmaker’, presented by Nasreen Munni Kabir, Roli Books, Rs 395