“Jiya O, Jiya O Jiya kuch bol do…”
But the Peter Pan of the Hindi film Industry will not say anything again.
The man who never grew up has now moved on to the Great Beyond, leaving us with memories of that fluffy hair, that unique walk (which taught me how one can convert a weakness into one’s biggest strength), that oft-imitated drawl.
Dev Anand was already past his prime when I was a baby (he really belonged to my parents’ generation) but I grew up watching his movies on Doordarshan.
How can I forget the song that I have mentioned above, where Dev Anand was sitting on top of the car romancing Asha Parekh while someone was driving parallel to the train? A song sequence that probably was the inspiration for the other popular song “Mere Sapno ki Rani” from Aradhana?
Or the Jewel Thief playing the drum to Vyjayanthimala’s “Honthon Pe Aisi Baat”?
Or the music at the lighting of the cigarette from Hum Dono? (I bet his fans who are reading this are humming it right now)
“Dil Aaj Shaayar Hai, Gham Aaj Naghma Hai, Shab Yeh Ghazal Hai Sanam”
What a life he led! The movies (though my grandfather hated CID – the only movie he saw. He was an inspector, and thought he was going to see a movie on his department!), the songs, the romance…
That is another thing that I remember. His ill-fated romance with Suraiya. A young handsome hero and an established heroine fell in love and wanted to marry, but were thwarted by her family due to religious reasons. (Why her family did not stop her from acting in films for the same religious reasons is something I cannot fathom, but that’s beside the point).
A heart-broken Suraiya never married, and died a spinster in 2004! Dev Anand went on to marry another actress and had two children, but by newspaper reports, the couple was estranged for years.
“Hum Bekhudi Mein Tumko Pukaare Chale Gaye”
However, as much as I would prefer to remember only the suave debonair romantic, also comes to my mind images of possible narcissist who did not know when to quit!
Starting with possibly Des Pardes, he continued making films that no one saw, and possibly no one even remembers the names of, trying to play hero when he should have graduated to grandfather roles, casting people young enough to be his children as his contemporaries, or even his elders in the movies.
It hurt every time I saw him announcing a new film or on a poster; of the man making a caricature of himself!
“Kya Se Kya Ho Gaya, Bewafaa, Tere Pyar Mein”
He lived life on his own terms, and I daresay even died on his own terms. According to a newspaper report, he had expressed a desire to not be cremated in India, so that his fans remember him as the die-hard young romantic. His death in London was possibly a fulfilment of that wish.
Possibly it is therefore only fair that I remember the Dev Anand of the Black and White era, the young romantic, the hats, the walking stick, the drawl, the style of drooping his face and shaking his hands…
“Main Zindagi ka Saath Nibhaata Chala Gaya”
RIP, Devdutt Pishorimal Anand, while your die-hard fans say,
“Abhi na Jaao Chhodkar, Ke Dil Abhi Bharaa Nahi”
But the Peter Pan of the Hindi film Industry will not say anything again.
The man who never grew up has now moved on to the Great Beyond, leaving us with memories of that fluffy hair, that unique walk (which taught me how one can convert a weakness into one’s biggest strength), that oft-imitated drawl.
Dev Anand was already past his prime when I was a baby (he really belonged to my parents’ generation) but I grew up watching his movies on Doordarshan.
How can I forget the song that I have mentioned above, where Dev Anand was sitting on top of the car romancing Asha Parekh while someone was driving parallel to the train? A song sequence that probably was the inspiration for the other popular song “Mere Sapno ki Rani” from Aradhana?
Or the Jewel Thief playing the drum to Vyjayanthimala’s “Honthon Pe Aisi Baat”?
Or the music at the lighting of the cigarette from Hum Dono? (I bet his fans who are reading this are humming it right now)
“Dil Aaj Shaayar Hai, Gham Aaj Naghma Hai, Shab Yeh Ghazal Hai Sanam”
What a life he led! The movies (though my grandfather hated CID – the only movie he saw. He was an inspector, and thought he was going to see a movie on his department!), the songs, the romance…
That is another thing that I remember. His ill-fated romance with Suraiya. A young handsome hero and an established heroine fell in love and wanted to marry, but were thwarted by her family due to religious reasons. (Why her family did not stop her from acting in films for the same religious reasons is something I cannot fathom, but that’s beside the point).
A heart-broken Suraiya never married, and died a spinster in 2004! Dev Anand went on to marry another actress and had two children, but by newspaper reports, the couple was estranged for years.
“Hum Bekhudi Mein Tumko Pukaare Chale Gaye”
However, as much as I would prefer to remember only the suave debonair romantic, also comes to my mind images of possible narcissist who did not know when to quit!
Starting with possibly Des Pardes, he continued making films that no one saw, and possibly no one even remembers the names of, trying to play hero when he should have graduated to grandfather roles, casting people young enough to be his children as his contemporaries, or even his elders in the movies.
It hurt every time I saw him announcing a new film or on a poster; of the man making a caricature of himself!
“Kya Se Kya Ho Gaya, Bewafaa, Tere Pyar Mein”
He lived life on his own terms, and I daresay even died on his own terms. According to a newspaper report, he had expressed a desire to not be cremated in India, so that his fans remember him as the die-hard young romantic. His death in London was possibly a fulfilment of that wish.
Possibly it is therefore only fair that I remember the Dev Anand of the Black and White era, the young romantic, the hats, the walking stick, the drawl, the style of drooping his face and shaking his hands…
“Main Zindagi ka Saath Nibhaata Chala Gaya”
RIP, Devdutt Pishorimal Anand, while your die-hard fans say,
“Abhi na Jaao Chhodkar, Ke Dil Abhi Bharaa Nahi”
