Dev Anand's 100th Birth Anniversary: A star who had style, swag, sexiness, and sorrow

Dev Anand isn’t merely a name anymore, it transcends descriptions. It’s now an adjective. The court banned the star to wear black as it was regarded too attractive for girls to handle his handsomeness. Actors swayed by box-office and battling to break records currently are no match to this unshakable feat. Anand was so passionate about films, he never gave up even when after success began eluding him. One of his last great works is regarded as Hare Rama Hare Krishna in 1971.

Waheeda Rehman on his Guide co-star

In one of her interactions with the media, Rehman said, “I’d like to say that as the years went by Dev’s script sense went more and more haywire. I think he got too involved with himself. Dev was a very good producer. But he needed to look out for better scripts.”

The irresistible and unparalleled charm

Dev Anand was a fiercely charming personality that oozed style and swag in his performances with breathtaking dialogues and enthralling melodies. Vijay Anand’s film Guide is regarded as one of Hindi cinema’s greatest. The ache that the story carries haunts you 58 years later too, and the anguish of the characters and the penultimate tragedy are often revisited despite the heartbreak that’ll follow. Barely has a Hindi film character gone through an arc Dev Anand did, from a guide to a gambler to a saint on a hunger strike.

Inspiring the next generation of actors

Jackie Shroff, who was launched by the legend himself in Swami Dada in 1982, has always spoken about how he’s a combination of him and Sunil Dutt. Back in 2021, he said, “I
think he had seen one of my advertisements in the morning and so when I was standing in front of him with his son he said, ‘I saw your photograph in the morning and you’re standing in front of me in the evening. I’ll give you a role.'”

He added, “For me it was a blessing from Dev Saab that his hands were on my head. He laid the foundation for my acting career. He sowed the seeds.”

The otherwise perennially critical Naseeruddin Shah too had immensely warm words for Anand. He once said, “Dev Anand is one of my favourites. Guide is the greatest Hindi film ever made. Dev Anand has made Guide and Jewel Thief and these two movies are enough for him to be remembered.” Shah and Anand have worked in three films together, including Chargesheet, which was Anand’s last film in 2011.

The sorrow that he had

With great power comes great responsibility, and it seems with great success comes great sorrows. Anand once spoke about the first love of his life Suraiya and said, “It was destined that way. Had I gone to her, my life would have been different. Had I married her, life at her end would have taken me to a different course. Then may be I would not have been the Dev Anand I am today.”

He added, “I fell in love for the first time. We all know what first love does to a human being. Then the agony of not getting it. Suddenly hope was aroused after being encouraged, but again disillusionment crept in when nothing happened.”

The power of his cinema

On his centenary, films like CID, Guide, Jewel Thief re-released and ram to packed houses across the nation. It’s not only the rediscovery of his legacy, but the power of great cinema.

Even after six decades, Dev Anand can pull the crowd. Who cares about those short-lived 500 crore blockbusters then?