TELEVISTA
Lovable actor, popular hero
AMITA MALIK

The screen has been overflowing with good wishes to Dev Anand on his 85th birthday. Actually, I have known the family closely for all these years. In fact, I flew down to Mumbai for Dev’s 70th birthday and have a photo to prove it. Of the three brothers, Chetan was the slightly reserved intellectual. Goldie (Vijay), who died tragically young, was everyone’s favourite. But Dev, on and off screen, remained the boy next door.

One always thought of him with affection, girls as a brother, mother as a son and everyone as a friend. So when he was showered with good wishes on his birthday last week, it was something all-India and not confined to the Hindi film industry. Of course one of the most professional tributes came from Waheeda Rehman, whose association with him in both versions of Guide has passed into cinema history.

When Waheeda Rehman spoke on screen about her association with Dev Anand, she referred to the sophistication he displayed in Guide.

But in the programme devoted to him in the series Total Recall by Times Now news channel, his associations went far beyond those with his admiring fans. Take just the field of music. The composers and playback singers associated with Dev Anand include such luminaries as Sahir Ludhianvi, Rafi, S.D. Burman and Kishore Kumar. The roles he played, which run into three figures, are too many.

But one must mention his film Hum Dono, where he played a double role convincingly. The double role now being played on the small screen as a spoof by Aamir Khan is in the same league and played with equal finesse. Dev performed splendidly in Taxi Driver directed by his brother Goldie.

It was a closely knit trio and Dev had the knack of pleasing both the masses and the classes, which is not easy. One of the reasons was that he came from a highly educated and culturally open-minded background. Brother Chetan had studied in gurukul but later taught in the elite Doon School. This is the reason why Dev could bring imagination into the sort of role he played in Hare Rama Hare Krishna and the sophistication he displayed in Guide.

When Waheeda Rehman spoke on screen about her association with Dev Anand, it is this aspect of Dev which she stressed. Together with with lakhs of his fans and friends, this column would like to wish him many more years of success even though all of us are not sure that he should plunge into the kind of film production which he announces from time to time. It is enough that he remains a lovable actor and a popular hero.

Anyone writing about television these days has to report more horror stories than pleasant events. Which is why I wrote first about Dev Anand’s birthday, than the terrible events of terrorism which have caught the Capital unawares. The callous and brutal nature of the happenings at Mehrauli, below one of the most hallowed monuments in India, the Qutab Minar, has left all of us, and particularly TV viewers, sick with grief and anguish. To see the photo of the little boy so cruelly blown to bits because he tried to help the brutal killer, and the heart-breaking sight of his mother grieving over him, kept us sleepless throughout the night.

Even if one switched on the radio or TV for relief, one could not get away from those terrible happenings. Earlier one used to look forward to celebrate Durga Puja, Eid and Dasehra with happy expectations. Now one keeps on hoping that some sick minds will not destroy the happiness associated with those joyous festivals.