NOSTALGIA

Dev’s journey to eternity

The Romeo of fifties, sixties and seventies who burnt silver screen and captivated audiences with his seductive performances - throwing them into trance-like-state, is no more amidst us, leaving a big void …   

DevAnand, the sensation of Indian cine-goers, heartthrob of teens and bleary-eyed girls whose eternal charm hypnotized audiences with his ceaseless hit numbers, Jayegakahan, kaunhaiteramusafirjayegakahan… (Guide, 1965), Mai zindagikasaathnibhatachalagaya, harghamkodhooainmeinudatachalagaya… and gripped audiences cutting across three generations, a feat that none of the present breed of actors have able to accomplished, till date, had left for heavenly abode.

Anand, a thespian par excellence, stood tall amongst multitudes of actors of his time andpart of iconic triumvirate – Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor and he himself, had led the fashion industry to a new high, much ahead of the reigning craze then. A style icon, the Churchill cap and cigar image of the legend still captivate us.

‘Romancing with Life’ was his narration of a chequered career that spilt over into more than five decades. On the occasion of its release in 2006 at his residence, a scribe asked whether the thespian had mentioned the flirtatious side of his life too, the much incensed Dev reminding the young girl of her age said that his grandfather must had been one among his fans. Such was the demeanor, the debonair Dev used to elicit off-screen.  

Born in September 26, 1923 as DharamDevPishorimalAnand in Gurdaspur district of the then undivided Punjab, the youthful love bird left the temporal abode at 88, after a coronary arrest, far away in London on Dec 3.

If Dilip Kumar enjoyed the image of a jilted lover in many of his movies with dropped jaw and drooping eyes, Raj had relished a carefree desi socialist image; unlike his two equally charismatic contemporaries, Dev was unaffected by any stereotype. He played forlorn lover in Guide, his masterpiece, ambiguous gambler in Baazi (1951) and a cop in CID (1956), thus proving his immense comfort-level for any role which he was asked to essay. This reflected the versatility of the youth icon.

The Gregary Peck of Indian Cinema, on whom he modeled himself, catapulted many to stardom. ZeenatAman, Tina Munim, Jackie Shroff and Tabu are the prominent faces that reminisce of the veteran artist’s talent-hunt skills.

The demigod, too, hogged limelight for his certain ‘unsavory’ acts that affects most in this light and action world. Dev, too, was no exception to this. His proximity with ZeenatAman and few other lass had still remained a clandestine affair - unexplored and undiscovered.

Married to KalpanaKartik, the thespian’s son failed to make any headway into Bollywood, a setback that the departed actor never mentioned in any press meet as well as in his much acclaimed autobiography.

His dream project, a sequel to his seventies hit, ‘Hare Rama Hare Krishna’, had failed to take off as the neo—Zeenat was nowhere to be found.