देव आनन्द की जीवन गाथा पढ़ी है मैंने अभी अभी,

             चाहता हूँ पढ़ कर इसको, आनंद उठायें आप भी सभी I

             सच्च मानो वह तो जीवन में भी था एक अद्भुत प्रेम पुजारी,

             इस उम्दा पुस्तक पर ही लिखा है मैंने ब्लॉग अबकी बारी I 

          

                                      Dev Anand

                  A romantic's journey through life            

It  took me a month to finish reading 'Romancing With Life'- the aptly titled memoir of one of the most romantic and ‘evergreen’ actors who took Bollywood by storm: Dev Anand. 

Poetic in tone and tenor, pacy and free-flowing in style, Dev Anand’s autobiography describes his dream-filled journey from Gurdaspur to Bombay and meteoric rise as a film star. His dream was to not settle for a life of mediocrity. He didn’t want to be a stereotype as most of us end up being, under pressure from our ‘ever-wise’ parents, the elders and the society inflicting their ‘how-to-do-well-in-life’ ideas on the young impressionable minds. To my mind, this  wiser-than-thou-attitude, quite often, does more harm than good. But Dev Anand was cast in a different mould. Looking at himself in the mirror he found himself handsome; his inner voice told him that he was not meant to lead a mundane, ghisi-piti life in some mofussil town. Therefore, defying conventional wisdom and parents’ protective embrace, he slipped out of home and boarded the train to the city of dreams. He had a rough ride initially but with his undying passion, verve and self-belief, nothing could have stood in his way to finally touch the dizzy heights of success and celebrity-hood. Of his hard days when he was still on the roads and penniless, he poignantly recounts one incident of how he had to sell his prized, carefully kept stamps album to a vendor on a Bombay street to quell his pangs of thirst and hunger.

Bollywood is a world unto itself. It is a world of glamour and glitz; beauty, aura and mystique…(and much more, not altogether wholesome). The film stars are celebrities adored and adulated by the millions. The enchanting heroines rule many young hearts and tiptoe in their dreams. And handsome heroes are wooed by women. Dev Anand, perhaps the handsomest of all in his days, was no exception. In gripping narrative he describes his ‘loves’ and encounters with the best and the most beautiful in the film world and how women young or old, married or unmarried in and  outside Bollywood fell under his spell and drooled over him. And being a romantic at heart with nothing but ‘love-for-all' the guiding mantra of his life, he loved and lived it all.

From the book he comes out to be a man of passion and childlike curiosity. He is restlessly energetic and always bubbling with new and novel, unthought-of, unexplored and bold ideas for his films. He is seen eagerly scouting the whole globe, forever looking to scale new heights and enlarge his horizons; feverishly in quest of fresh new talent (not just from India but from any corner of the world) and the best locations for film shoots so as to present something special and unique to the world as a film maker. Jeenat Aman was one such ‘find’ of his; also Kalpana Kartik (a product of St Bedes College Shimla who, as we all know, he subsequently married); and so was the fabulous Tina Munim (who later married one of the Ambani brothers), who he brought into the world of films. He also writes about his unrequited love for Jeenat and his date with her when he was all set to make his 'pre-planned' confession-  only to step back in a sad but dignified and quiet manner on sensing that perhaps something (on her side) was amiss.
He describes his association with various luminaries in the film world and the top stars like Dilip Kumar (who he speaks very highly of), Raj Kapoor, Sunil Dutt and others; his creative highs with SD Burman and Kishore Kumar, his launching of own studio Navketan along with his equally talented and gifted brother Chetan Anand and later his joint film ventures with Goldie. He meets and rubs shoulders with the big and great in various walks of life including the politicians. His love and passion for the country and its great people propels him to even plunge into the world of politics with undiminished zeal and enthusiasm but the political party that he and his friends conceive of doesn’t take off- mainly because of lack of will on the part of some. This happens post the fall of Morarji Desai-led Janata Party government soon after the Emergency.

                    

Dev Anand's autobiography reflects his flamboyant spirit and his limiltless love for all things beautiful. At the same time he also strikes you as a man sensitive to the core, a man of integrity, vision, professional competence and idealism who would never buckle under any pressure and sell his soul at any cost – unlike some other stars and film makers - then and now.

I read this memoir  after Naseeruddin Shah’s. They both have style and flavour uniquely their own- as indeed how it should be. They both recount their own stories of struggles, highs and lows, tears and smiles, success and fame to regale us with, in their journey of life. But one common thread runs through  both: self-belief, 'chin- up' and ‘never-say-die’ attitude; the courage to defy conventions and bear the adversities when they come  with a grin…but always keeping the inner flame burning brightly, come what may.

Last word: You ought to have fire in your belly to become great. 

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