In whatever role he played, whether it was that of a hero or an anti hero, gambler or guide, Dev Anand brought in his own unique style. It was difficult to define exactly what made Dev Anand such a charming personality. It was a combination of many different aspects of his screen persona. Today film personalities and his fans remember him fondly as the evergreen idol of Bollywood whose centenary is being celebrated all across India.
There was a time when Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor were the leading trio of the Bombay film industry. Their films set the trend for others to follow. But while Raj Kapoor’s roles carried a message and Dilip Kumar’s talent was at its best in tragic roles, there was no particular trait that characterized the roles and films of Dev Anand.
Throughout his career Dev Anand maintained an image – that of a cavalier and carefree man who dressed flamboyantly, moved with a casual grace and spoke in his own inimitable style. He repeated his traits so often that it became easy for others to copy him. They often did it as a joke. Even his brother Chetan Anand used to refer to him as the Leaning Tower of Pisa because of the way he always leaned to one side while standing.
The reason for being repetitive
But there was a reason for doing all this. Dev Anand explained his theory once in an interview. He said: “When any actor becomes famous, his fans love him because he has a certain way of talking and moving. If that actor suddenly changes his ways, the fans will not accept him. They want their hero to be like he always was. The critics may not like repetition but the fans do. So I do not wish to change my style.”
Impeccable manners
Off the screen Dev Anand was always known for his impeccable manners and flawless behaviour. When Raj Kapoor made the film Satyam Shivam Sundaram with Zeenat Aman (Dev Anand’s protégé) in revealing clothes, he was furious that Raj Kapoor had exploited a woman’s body. For the same reason when a director asked Waheeda Rehman to wear a certain costume and she refused, Dev Anand supported Waheeda to the hilt.
Acted as a cricket player
Not many of his fans know that in one film Dev Anand acted as an aspiring cricket player. The film was Love Marriage (1959). The film was directed by Subodh Mukherjee and the heroine was Mala Sinha.
The story was about Sunil Kumar (Dev Anand) who is a star cricket player in Jhansi and lives with his brother’s family. Later Sunil leaves for Bombay to attend a job interview and in Bombay he rents a room. The landlord’s daughter Geeta (Mala Sinha) initially dislikes Sunil, but after watching him play cricket, she falls in love with him. They soon get married and go back to Jhansi to live with Sunil’s family.
The film is not well remembered but a song from this film remains popular even today. The song is Dheere Dheere Chal Chand Gagan Mein sung by Lata Mangeshkar and Mohammed Rafi.
When he became a real life guide
In real life he was always ready to take on any offbeat adventure and never took himself seriously. On one occasion when shooting the film Guide in the region of Udaipur, Rajasthan, a group of tourists from the USA heard people referring to Dev Anand as a guide. They thought he was really a tourist guide and asked him to show them around.
Dev Anand was unperturbed. He took up this new role in his typically cheerful manner and took the tourists around and even treated them to a boat ride on the Pichola Lake. It was much later that the Americans learnt that he was in reality, a famous film actor.
The film Guide (1965) was a watershed in Dev Anand’s acting career though in many respects it veered away from the original story written by R.K. Narayan.
The film was also made in English and premiered in New York City in February 1965. It was not a box office success but the famous film producer David O Selznick liked what he saw. Selznick was instrumental in introducing Alfred Hitchcock to the American audience. He signed Dev Anand for a Hollywood film which he planned to set in Kashmir. But unfortunately Selznick died in June 1965 and the film remained unborn.
More than six decades in films
Through a career that spanned more than six decades, Dev Anand worked in more than one hundred films. Anand received four Filmfare Awards. The Government of India honored him with the Padma Bhushan in 2001 and with the Dadasaheb Phalke award in 2002.
Dev Anand breezed through life as he had breezed through many of his film roles. Setbacks never hampered him. He always pushed ahead with childlike enthusiasm and optimism, living every day with admirable zest till he passed away at the age of 88 in 2011.
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