 Musical evenings with Dev — All it needed was the terrace of an apartment building. Photo courtesy the writer |
“God Meets His Guide” – These were the words that greeted me on Facebook when I woke up today. The accompanying picture was that of Dev Anand with Suhel Seth. My first thought was – “Oh No, Suhel’s playing God now”, but within seconds I realised that this was no joke, we had lost a legend and Suhel, as always, had captured it perfectly.
My initial reaction was to text my condolences to Shekhar Kapur, his nephew and now the flag bearer of this great film making family, and then, I started reminiscing.
My relationship with Dev Sahab (I was born thirty three years after him) pre dates my involvement with films. In fact it probably pre dates my having seen any film. My father, who was a civil servant, belonged to and was born in Gurdaspur District, as was Dev Sahab. In those days, in Mumbai, this was a good enough reason for people to become friends.
To us kids, he was a name to boast of in school and a means to attend that most hallowed of ceremonies, a film shooting. I probably saw him on the studio floor way before I saw him on screen. The film was “Tere Ghar Ke Saamne” and he was playing a comedy scene with Harindranath Chattopadhyaya. The year was 1962 or 1963, I was six years old, but I still remember the scene and the fact that everything in the scene, even the two houses were fake — flat cut outs.Stars were far more accessible then and possibly a lot less busy, and I have several memories of music sessions with Madan Mohan and Dev Sahab at our house, and our family album is peppered with their pictures. All it needed was the terrace of an apartment building and you had a musical event. Alas, my brother and I were relegated to peeking from behind doors, and are absent from such pictures.
The next time I saw Dev Anand was ten years later at the Pahalgam Club. For a man who had seen over fifty summers, he looked as if he had seen a lot less winters. He didn’t look a day over thirty. As a teenager one notices odd things. What I remember is Dev Sahab sitting at a bar drinking a soft drink, perhaps even water. While there isn’t a law against not drinking at bars, it seemed like blasphemy to a young teenager sneaking his first drink. We ate, he didn’t. The secret of the eternal fountain of youth was getting clear.
By then I had become a huge fan of his work. I had just joined college and Delhi University doesn’t really work it’s students too hard, so, my friend Ravi Dubey and I made a religion of watching old Dev Anand films at Plaza Cinema in the morning shows. Solvan Saal, Nau Do Gyarah, Teen Deviyan, Munimji, Paying Guest …. All of them were seen on the sly and perhaps were the first unofficial film appreciation program that I attended. Jaal with Geeta Bali is still eminently viewable as much for memorable performances as for it’s song “Yeh Raat Ye Chandni Phir Kahan”.
Then came Guide. Even today there are almost no takers for such a theme. The actresses coyly refuse to play wives or mothers and filmmakers are largely looking at films ending when the heroine gets married, not starting at that point. I still carry a copy of Guide on my iPad and watch it often. Without doubt Dev Sahab was an explorer, and a bold one at that. Between his brother and himself, there was no one to answer to, so they pretty much made the films they wanted. Take Hare Ram Hare Krishna. I suspect that today the film would have to change it’s name, as a certain section of society would get offended and the health ministry would delete all the smoking scenes. We would be left with a 20-minute film called Hare Bleep Hare Bleep and Zeenat Aman would be unknown to this world, as would the song Dum Maro Dum.
Again decades passed. I moved onto college, to an MBA, to a corporate job and finally landed myself in the film business. I had just produced Bandit Queen when I met him again at a film party in Juhu. He was seventy years plus at that time and was accompanied by a very young, pretty though somewhat pimply young lady whom he introduced as “My new find”. He certainly was a finder. He was really congratulatory on the success of the Bandit Queen and said it was Shekhar’s best film. I talked to him about the past but he had no clue as to who I was, though he remembered my father well.
He was not just a finder or explorer of bold themes. He was really affected by what was happening around him and I clearly remember him opposing the emergency and forming a political party. Also, he was clearly a man who put his money where his mouth is, and spent much of his own resource producing films opposing issues like political corruption and even censorship. A few years ago he was personally putting up posters of his film Mr.Prime Minister at the film Bazaar at IFFI, Goa. Some of these films didn’t work, but failure certainly didn’t deter him.
Dev Sahab, this journey is over, but I am sure that wherever you are, you will be finding new finds and launching new films and yes, so many of your past heroines are with you now. Bless you and have fun
