Subhash K Jha celebrates the incredible career of the iconic Dev Anand and shares his selections for his 10 finest films.
1. Guide (1965):
R.K. Narayan was unhappy with the way Vijay Anand adapted his novel about adultery in the times of tremendous stress . But Dev Anand had no reason to complain. As the tourist guide, Raju, who brings home the beautiful and unhappy wife (Waheeda Rehman) of a client, grooms her to stardom, falls in love with and then betrays her, Dev Anand gave a boldly deviant and defiant performance . This was one of the first anti-heroic parts of mainstream cinema , and one where Dev Anand discarded a lot of his trademark mannerisms to go straight to the heart of the character. He won a richly deserved Filmfare award for his performance. Says Dev Saab, “I got my brother Vijay Anand to direct the Hindi version which was completely from the English version. We changed the story completely to suit the Indian ethos.”
2. Rahi (1952):
Vintage Dev Anand! In a literary film adaptation of Mulk Raj Anand’s novel Two Leaves & A Bud, Dev starred as an oppressive tea-plantation manager who sheds his sadistic leaves when he comes in contact with a plantation worker Ganga(Nalini Jaywant). In a mediocre film Dev Anand blazes like a path-finding street lamp. We could almost see from here to eternity. This K.A. Abbas directed film was also released in English, like Guide, and in Russian.
3. Jaal (1952):
Within two years Guru Dutt directed Dev Anand in Baazi and Jaal. This one is a masterpiece of suspense and romance. Again Dev Anand was cast in an anti-heroic mould as the rakish and unscrupulous smuggler Tony who seduces the bewitching Maria (Geeta Bali). The seduction sequence with Dev Anand singing ‘Ueh raat yeh chandni’ is to die for. Guru Dutt’s stylish depiction of Goa and its hedonism , is any ambitious art director’s dream come true. But it’s Dev who holds you with his arresting charisma and irresistible charm.
4. Nau Do Gyarah (1957):
Vijay Anand’s directorial debut borrowed heavily from Frank Capra’s It Happened One Night. It featured Dev with his wife-to-be Kalpana Kartik. In the film, they get to pretend to be man and wife. Kartik plays an heiress who runs away from an arranged marriage , meets Dev Anand on the way. The romantic caper’s well-modulated narrative gives Dev Anand a chance to sing some of his best known numbers including ‘Hum hain rahi pyar ke hum se kuch na boliye’.
5. Bombai Ka Babu (1960):
In the year that Vijay Anand directed him in Kala Bazaar, Dev drew yet another counter-heroic character in Raj Khosla’s film about a criminal who pretends to be the dead son of a heir-less family. Since Suchitra Sen believes the hero to be her brother, there are overt incestuous undercurrents in the romance. But watch Dev sing ‘Deewana mastana’ to the stunning Sen, and you’ll be seduced beyond convention.
6. Hum Dono (1961):
The film has some its ‘lighter’ moments. And how! The long refrain on the lighter before the song ‘Abhi na jao chod kar’ had the nation trapped in a romantic swoon. This melodrama directed by Navketan assistant Amarjeet featured Dev Anand in the first double role of his career as two army men. When one of them is presumed dead the other must take his place in his wife’s life. The narrative subsumed moments of high romance between the rakish hero and Sadhana who was there to provide ‘fringe’ benefits in this Dev Anand vehicle.
7. Jewel Thief (1967):
‘Raat akeli hai bujh gaye deeyek, sang Tanuja to seduce Dev Anand . But which Dev Anand? There were two of them lurking in the frames of this taut suspense thriller—Vijay Anand’s second such outing in within a year after Teesri Manzil. The wheels within wheels contain a grieving leading lady (Vyjanthimala) and her happy-go-lucky brother. But this is again an out-and-out Dev Anand film where he plays the son of a police commissioner who’s mistaken for a con man. Woh con tha?!
8. Johnny Mera Naam (1970):
Man what a hit! Dev Anand’s best known success of the 1970s featured him as a cop who infiltrates a gang operated by Premnath(in his comeback vehicle). The then-fresh-and-frightened Hema Malini cliicked in a huge way with Dev. They subsequently did 7-8 other films together. Of these only Amir Garib clicked. Vijay Anand’s direction was fast paced , in keeping with the leading man’s motions of commotion which found him wooing the beautiful Hema with Pal bhar ke liye koi humein pyar kar le one minute, and taking on Pran(who’s the hero’s long-lost brother) the next minute. The similarly titled Mera Naam Joker which was released the same year, finished Dev Anand’s colleague Raj Kapoor’s career as a leading man. But Dev had a long way to go.
9. Tere Mere Sapne (1971):
Based on A.J.Cronin’s The Citadel, this is the story of idealistic doctor’s descent into corruption, told by Vijay Anand with tremendous feeling. Notable mainly for its idealism and Dev Anand’s most finely-tuned performance since Guide. Speaking on the film’s failure Dev Saab said, “Success and failure work in a cycle. A subject that doesn’t work this year, becomes a hit five years later. I never go by market conventions. People will talk about my films after I’m gone.”
10. Hare Rama Hare Krishna(1971):
Dev Anand’s second directorial venture (after Prem Pujari) was a musical joyride into Kathmandu where a brother (Dev) searches for his drugged and desperate sister (Zeenat Aman). Perhaps because they played siblings, none of Dev Saab and Zeenat’s films worked later, except to an extent, Warrant. Recalls Dev, “My first film as a director Prem Purjari was on the Indo-Pak conflict. Then came Hare Rama… which was about the restlessness of youth and drug abuse. All my films mirror the world around us.”
