After Baazi came Jaal (1952), another crime based story directed by Guru Dutt, but
this time with a sharper edge to the central character. A thriller of the 1950s
mould Jaal (1952) is the story of a runaway convict Tony (Dev Anand) who takes refuge
amidst a Christian fishing community in Goa where an innocent local girl Maria (Geeta
Baali) falls in love with him. Jaal (1952) worked to the extent that it did despite the
rather cliched plot of a city-slicker ensnaring and abandoning a pure
rustic/hill/adivasee girl, and finally repenting because of the way it was shot
and the songs. Dev Anand gave a finely shaded performance but the film failed at
the box office. Already during the making of Jaal (1952) differences had arisen between
Guru Dutt and Chetan Anand, and but for Dev's mediation Dutt might have left the
film earlier.
