[3] A 120-minute U.S. version titled The Guide was written by Pearl S. Buck and directed and produced by Tad Danielewski.

[4][5] For the US version, Dev Anand had insisted that Waheeda Rehman be cast as a heroine, but his advice was not heeded.

At the 14th Filmfare Awards, Guide received a leading nine nominations, including Best Music Director (Burman) and Best Playback Singer (Lata Mangeshkar for "Aaj Phir Jeene Ki Tamanna Hai"), and won a leading 7 awards, including a sweep in the 4 major categories (Best Film, Best Director (Vijay), Best Actor (Dev), and Best Actress (Rehman), thus becoming the first film in the history of Filmfare Awards to do so.

It was also selected as India's official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 38th Academy Awards, but it was not accepted as a nominee.

[10] Raju (Dev Anand), is a freelance guide, who earns his living by taking tourists to historic sites.

One day, a wealthy and aging archaeologist named Marco arrives in the city with his young wife Rosie (Waheeda Rehman), who is the daughter of a courtesan.

While Marco devotes himself to the discovery of the cave, Raju takes Rosie on a tour and appreciates her dancing ability and innocence.

He tells Rosie that her act of committing suicide was a drama, otherwise she would have consumed more sleeping pills so that she could really have died.

On returning to Caves which were discovered, Rosie learns that Marco is spending time and enjoying the company of a native tribal girl.

Before this they also had a discussion about how a man should live when Rosie remembers Marco and tells Raju that Marco was probably correct when he used to say that a Man should not live on a woman's earnings.Raju retorts by saying that she is under a misunderstanding that she has become a star on her own and this was Raju's efforts which has helped her a lot in becoming a star.

Despair, poverty, rags, hunger, loneliness engulf him until he finds a wandering group of sadhus (holy men) with whom he spends a night at a derelict temple in a small town.

Raju assumes the role of village holy man (Swami Ji) and engages in skirmishes with the local pandits.

In telling a childhood story, Raju speaks of a holy man whose 12 day fast resulted in God's bringing rain to end a drought.

At first Raju opposes the idea, going as far as telling Bhola that he is just a human like any one of them and even worse a convict who has undergone trial and served a jail sentence over a woman.

He gets enlightened by the concept that his past sins are washed away by his anguish and the Guide Raju he knew has died.

Amidst thunder clap and heavy downpour, his soul departs this earth while the crowd rejoices and his beloveds cry.

Raj Khosla was set to direct the Hindi version, with Waheeda Rehman being the first choice to play the role of Rosie.

[11][14] The sequence featuring the song "Aaj Phir Jeene Ki Tamanna Hai" was shot in the Chittor Fort in Rajasthan.

[7] The film's climax was shot in the town of Limbdi, located 90 km away from Ahmedabad on the banks of the river Bhogavo.

In the song "Mo Se Chal Kiye Jaaye", the tabla is played by renowned musician Pandit Shivkumar Sharma.

"[18] In a review of the American release in The New York Times, critic Bosley Crowther praised the cinematography as "... a succession of colorful views of sightseeing spots, busy cities, temples, dusty landscapes and crowds," but lamented that "... the development of the narrative continuity is so erratic and frequently slurred–so clumsy and artless, to be plain-spoken–that both story and emotion are vague.

The ceremony also proved to be controversial, as S. D. Burman, who was nominated for Best Music Director and Lata Mangeshkar, who was nominated for Best Playback Singer for "Aaj Phir Jeene Ki Tamanna Hai", both lost their respective awards to Shankar-Jaikishan and Mohammed Rafi (for "Baharon Phool Barsao"), both for Suraj, despite being highly favored for winning in their respective categories.