[2][1] The film was a box office bomb in its time owing to its theme which the masses could not identify with, but was later resurrected as a cult classic in the 1980s.

[3] Its failure, both critically and commercially, severely impacted Guru Dutt and brought his studio on the verge of ruins.

[4] The film's music was composed by S. D. Burman and the lyrics were written by Kaifi Azmi and Shailendra (for one song "Hum Tum Jise Kehta Hai").

His marriage to Veena is on the rocks, due to her wealthy family seeing filmmaking, as a job, lacking in social status.

In the final scene, remembering his glorious past, he dies in the director's chair in an empty film studio, a lonely and forgotten man.

[4] All music is composed by S. D. BurmanThe commercial and critical failure of Kaagaz Ke Phool was an intense disappointment for Guru Dutt.

All subsequent films from his studio were, thereafter, officially helmed by other directors since Guru Dutt felt that his name is anathema to box office.

[10][1] In the writing of Sathya Saran's book Ten Years with Guru Dutt: Abrar Alvi’s Journey, Abrar Alvi, who wrote the screenplay and dialogues of Kaagaz Ke Phool, told Saran that he believed the masses just couldn't identify with Suresh's trauma over his personal heartbreak and his lack of professional creative freedom, given that he was reasonably well off and he still had a job, while they struggled to put two meals on their table.

There is also a tribute to Geeta Dutt by Lata Mangeshkar, in which she sings "Waqt Ne Kiya Kya Haseen Sitam".

[11] In the 2002 Sight & Sound critics and directors' poll, Kaagaz Ke Phool was ranked #160 in the list of greatest films of all time.

He is unable to get his point of view across to the people who matter and life is a constant struggle, both personally and professionally.

The masses failed to connect with the film, but Kaagaz Ke Phool has lived longer than many money-spinners of the golden era of Hindi cinema.