Neeraj Dubey
Devdutt Pishorimal Anand (26 Sept. 1923 – 3 Dec. 2011) better known as Dev Anand, was an Indian film actor, writer, director, and producer known for his work in Hindi cinema. He was born on 26th Sept’ 1923 in the Shakargarh(tehsil) of the Gurdaspur Distt in Punjab(British India). His father Pishori Lal Anand was a well-to-do advocate. Dev Anand was the third of four sons born to Pishori Lal Anand. One of the Dev’s younger sister is Sheela Kanta Kapur, who is the mother of renowned director Shekar Kapur. He did his schooling till matriculation from Sacred Heart School – Dalhousie in H.P then in Punjab and went to college Dharmsala in Himachal Pardesh before going to Lahore for higher studies. After completing B.A degree in English Literature from Govt. college, Lahore in British India, Dev Anand left his hometown for Bombay( now Mumbai) in the early 1940s. He began his career in the military censor’s office at Churchgate, for a monthly salary of Rs 165. Later, he joined as a clerk in an accountancy firm for a salary of Rs 85. After his elder brother, film director Chetan Anand, introduced him to the Indian People’s Theatre Association(IPTA). Dev Anand aspired to become a performer after seeing Ashok Kumar’s performance in films like Achhut Kanya and Kismat. Dev Anand quoted in an interview that “I remember when I gatecrashed into the office of the man who gave me the first break, he kept looking at me – Babu Rao Pai of Prabhat film studio, and then he was soon offered the lead role in Prabhat films “Hum Ek Hain” (1946), a film about Hindu Muslim unity. Within two years Anand was playing lead roles and in 1949, he and Chetan Anand co-founded “Navketan International Films”. The Production company first film – Afsar (1950), starred Anand in an adaption of “Nikolay Gogol’s” – the Govt. inspector was a big hit. In the late 1940s, Anand was offered few roles starring as the male lead opposite singer – actress Suraiya in woman oriented films.
He considered himself to be very lucky to get a chance to star opposite such as established actress and accepted the offers. While shooting these films, he became romantically involved with Suraiya. Both of them were paired in seven films together: Vidya(1948), Jeet(1949), Shair(1949), Afsar(1950), Nili(1950), Do Sitare(1951) and Sanam(1951), all of these films were successful in the box office. Suraiya fell in love with Anand during the shooting of the song “Kinare Kinare Chale Jayen Ge” from film Vidya. While shooting the scene, the boat they were in capsized and Anand saved Suraiya from drowning.
On the sets of Jeet Anand finally proposed to Suraiya and gave her a diamond ring worth Rs. 3000. But Suraiya’s maternal grandmother opposed the relationship as they were Muslim and Anand was Hindu and so, Suraiya remained un-married. Friendships in the film industry are brittle, ego image- conscious stars and the theory of survival of the fittest hardly allow any friendships to endure, amidst all this, a friendship that survived the times was the one between Dev Anand and Guru Dutt. Between them, they agreed that if one of them was to become successful in the film industry, they would help the other to be successful. Dev choose Guru Dutt as the director for the crime thriller – Bazzi(1951) . The film Bazzi saw debut of Kalpana-Kartik (Mona Singh) as the lead female actress and Guru Dutt as the director. The collaboration was a success at box office and the duo of Dev Anand and Kalpana Kartik were offered many films to star together like Aandhiyan, Taxi Driver, House No. 44 and Nau Do Gyarah went on to become big hits. During the making of film Taxi Driver, the couple fell in love, after Taxi Driver declared hit, both decided to marry in a quiet ceremony. The couple had a son Suneil Anand in 1956 and later a daughter, Devina, was born. After her marriage Kalpana Kartik decided to quit her acting career. Nau-Do-Gyarah was the couple’s last movie together. Dev Anand’s association with singer Kishore Kumar proved to be very lucky for both of them. Most of the famous songs of Dev Sahab, playback by great Kishore Kumar were instant hit and praised by the music lovers. There association continued for almost three decades. From the early fifties till mid sixties, the trio of Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor and Dev Anand ruled the roost. Dev Anand was the highest paid actor from 1957-64 and the 2nd highest paid Hindi film actor from 1965-75. Apart from his pair with Suraiya and Kalpana Kartik, his pair with Nutan, Waheeda Rehman, Vijayanti-mala, Nanda and Hema Malini was very popular among the audiences. In the sixties, Dev Anand acquired a romantic image with films like Manzil, Tere Ghar Ke Samne, with Nutan, Maya with Mala Sinha, Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota Hai and Mahal with Asha Parekh. His first color film, Guide with Waheeda Rehman was based on the novel of the same name by R.K.Naryan. In the film Guide, Dev played Raju, a voluble guide who supports Rosy (Waheeda) in her bid for freedom. He is not above thoughtlessly exploiting her for personal gains. Combining style with substance, he gave an sterling performance as a man grappling with his emotions in his passage through love, shame and salvation.
He had so far directed 19 films and produced 35 films of which 7 – directorial ventures and 18 films respectively were commercially successful at the box office. Dev Anand’s films are well known for their hit songs. He won film-fare award twice for best actor in 1959 for Kalapani and in 1965 for Guide. His other accolades included the Indian Govt. Padam Bhushan in 2001 and Dada Saheb Phalke honours in 2002 as well as several lifetime achievement acting awards. In Sept. 2007, Dev’s own autobiography “Romancing with life” was released at a birthday party by the Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. He died at the age of 88 on 3rd Dec. – 2011 at London. He always remained eternally youthful by his remarkable ability to live always in the present. The evergreen legend with an endearing toothy grin, long sleeved shirts with a unique gait and dialogue delivery will never be forgotten. My tribute to Great Dev Anand for his song “Main Zindghi Ka Saath Nibhata Chala Gaya, Har Fikar Ko Duein Mein Udhata Chala Gaya”.
The author Assistant Professor in GCET (Jammu).
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