Baazi was Guru Dutt's first film as director. The film, clearly influenced by the film noir movement of Hollywood in the 1940s, does admittedly appear stilted and dated today. It's various elements represent the classic clichés we have come to see in Indian films. The hero being lead to a life of crime since he cannot afford keeping his sick sister in a sanatorium, the goody two shoes heroine bent on reforming him, the moll who loves him and takes the bullet meant for him, asking him to acknowledge that she's not such a bad woman after all and dying before he can say so in his arms, and the villain is ...no surprises...the heroine's father, on the surface a decent and well respected man! But while viewing Baazi we have to remember it was among the first of its type. In fact Baazi set the tone for the spate of urban crime films that were to come out of Bollywood in the 1950s and early 1960s.

But in spite of the now much imitated plot, there are some moments of inventiveness and experimentation, which give a glimpse of the genius of Guru Dutt, which were to be seen in later films. The play of light and shade and revealing KN Singh to be the villain as he steps out of the darkness in his office, or the wonderful shots at sunset with Dev Anand on he donkey. Songs were integrated into the story line rather than standard items or appendages to the plot. The entire scene where the moll warns the hero he is going to be killed is done through a club dance - Suno Gajar Kya Gaaye, a most innovative picturization for its time. A ghazal, Tadbir se Bigdi Hui Taqdeer was set to a hep western beat as the moll tries to seduce the hero. The experiment, in spite of objections from lyricist Sahir, worked and how! In fact the entire music score of the film had a lively and zingy beat to it, all in all a most jazzy score by SDBurman. The songs also saw an untapped side of singer and wife to be Geeta Roy. Known only for sad songs and bhajans till then, the ease with which she went western was marvelous to behold. The sex appeal in her voice was brought to the fore and helped her build an identity of her own, a style no singer could copy. Incidentally, Guru Dutt and her met for the first time at the launch of the film at the recording of Tadbir se Bigdi Hui Taqdeer.

Baazi also showed a criminal hero with a tough as nails exterior but of course with a heart of gold inside, seen earlier but sparcely in films like Kismet (1943). The film took actor Dev Anand to dramatic star status. He was to prove to be the ideal actor for the crime wave films and played in a number of them - Jaal (1952), Pocketmaar (1955), CID (1956), Nau Do Gyarah (1957), Kala Bazaar (1960) and Jaali Note (1960) to name some. Dev Anand aside, the life of the film is Geeta Bali as the moll. Her dances proved extremely popular and were one of the key factors in audiences returning to see the film again and again. KN Singh makes a dashing villain as always though Kalpana Kartik and Roopa Verman make insipid debuts.

The film though being a trendsetter interestingly also shows Guru Dutt's traditional attitude to women. The moll is mostly dressed in western clothes, while the goody two shoes heroine is always in traditional Indian attire. The moll is immoral and she has to pay for it with her life, her redemption being taking the bullet meant for the hero. (This attitude to women was further noticed even in the posters of Mr and Mrs 55 where the poster on one half showed the heroine Madhubala dressed in western attire making the hero, Guru Dutt, buckle her shoe while the right half showed the heroine in a traditional sari touching the hero's feet!)

Baazi promoted a lot of new talent, several of whom went on to make quite a name for themselves - Lyricist Sahir Ludhianvi, choreographer Zohra Sehgal (who had taught Guru Dutt at Uday Shankar's dance school at Almora), comedian Johnny Walker and actress Kalpana Kartik. The screenplay was written by well known actor Balraj Sahni.