Main Zindagi ka Saath Nibhata Chala Gaya...

After Amitabh Bachchan, he was (is) my second most all time favorite Bollywood star. Dev Anand’s demise is a loss. In an era of serious actors in serious movies, he was like a breeze of fresh air. In my book, he was the most handsome hero in Indian Cinema. His movies were colorful even in the black & white era. I saw his “Teen Devian” in 90s in a theatre in Kanpur and was completely swept away by the way he romanced his heroines. So romantic Dev Anand was – right till the end.



He brought such life to the tunes set by Burmans and character to the voice of Rafi & even more strikingly to Kishore’s. I would still like to escape into the world of those songs where he wearing a bright coloured sweater on some beautiful hill station, is romancing a beautiful, young actress singing a song in melodious pahadi tune – his heart up in his sleeves!



I had an opportunity to see him and hear him in person in Chandigarh few years back where he had come to release his book. I was staying in the same hotel where the book-function was organized. In mid-eighties when for most people the idea of passion would be to play with their grand or great grand children or just chat, joke or walk with their few remaining contemporaries , Dev Anand so passionately was talking about his book….about his heroines…about jealous & scheming Raj Kapoor who tried to wean Zeenat Aman away! He was speaking like a passionate teen-ager. His passion did rub, at that moment , into all the people present there in that hall. He was feeling young, he was looking young and he was young!

Next to him was standing Sunil Anand – so listless, so quiet, so old!

I would always remember Dev Saheb as a fountain of charm, youth, conviction, never-say-die-attitude and full of positivity. If I get to live so long as him, his persona, his energy and his positivity shall remain my driving force and my motivation. Long live Dev Anand!