Dev | Romancing With Life, Literally | The Statesmen

Cinema in every era has an actor who is labeled as ultimate romantic hero. However, rarely we have a hero so convinced with the idea of romance that even after seeing 88 candles on cake; he is ready to dance around trees. Dev Anand was such an hero. No wonder he titled his autobiography as ‘Romancing with Life’. This December, we lost him… forever. But let me remind you, the romance is still there and will remain there. People die, their cinema keeps them alive.

In 1948 when Ziddi came, Dev Anand had a name though not a big one. He had a few hit movies with Suraiya but since Suraiya was a bigger star, she received all the accolades. His relationship with her was in shambles. Ziddi was the breakthrough he desperately wanted and fortunately got. Baazi, Taxi Driver and Nau Do Gyarah established him as a star. He charmed his fans with his style in movies like House No. 44, Pocket Maar, Munimji, Funtoosh, C.I.D. and Paying Guest. His style and stardom established him as a part of famous Dev-Dileep-Raj trio. These three icon ruled the cinema of 50s and 60s.

Guide gave him the character of life time. He realized the power of a woman’s sexuality and its social acceptance. ‘70s arrived and he was still a hero. He romanced with Zeenat Aman, Rakhee and Hema Malini to earn the title of Evergreen Hero. No one pulled off the stereotyped character of Romantic Hero like him. Even his ventures in ‘90 and ‘00s when his movies failed to impress audience, one can see the youthfulness in his vision.

People labeled him a crackpot when his movies failed in last two decades. Some people can’t understand what Dev Anand actually was. In his life, he reached the point where it was difficult to differentiate between cinema and life. I sense the hypocrisy when people snub his movie ‘Censor’ that spoke about liberation but go out and watch movies with skin show. The good thing was that Dev Sa’ab was convinced about his ideology and hardly gave a dime to what detractors thought. He worked till his last breath. Up there, I guess, apsaras must be pretty busy right now.

Written By: Sujoy Ghosh