Without a doubt, Dev Anand was the first mega star of Indian cinema, who over a period of time, influenced the lifestyles of multiple generations. Although a part of the troika comprising him, Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor, he had a fan following that was mind boggling. If Raj Kapoor was considered as the greatest showman and Dilip Kumar the tragedy king, Dev Anand was the quintessential romantic hero. Girls would swoon over him and boys copied his hair style or tried to dress like him. Each and every movie starring Dev Anand would be eagerly awaited and the black market of tickets for the first day, first show was higher than any other contemporary star of his time. Even when Rajesh Khanna and later Amitabh Bachchan attained a superstar status, it was Dev Anand alone who survived their phenomenal rise, and continued to have his box office appeal.
Having interviewed him on several occasions, one could safely conclude that he was a power bank of energy and enthusiasm. He would always be on the lookout for new scripts and new talent and was obsessed with making films. Many of his critics during his last years, wanted him to give up acting, but in his inimitable manner, Dev Saheb, as he was addressed later, would shoot back and ask, what was their problem when he was spending his own money and time in doing what he liked the most. Together with his brothers — Chetan and Vijay — he had set up the Navketan films, under whose banner, he acted in multiple blockbusters. His movies were trend setters and many were even ahead of their times. Guide, for instance, is regarded as probably his most memorable movie, so far as his performance goes, but his appeal always remained undiminished. Tere Mere Sapne and Hare Rama, Hare Krishna were exceptional, as were Taxi Driver, CID, Hum Dono and Jewel Thief. He enthralled his fans by his performances in Johnny Mera Naam and Gambler and innumerable films before that. When Prakash Mehra decided to make Zanjeer, he made Salim-Javed write the script keeping Dev Anand in mind. However, the actor turned down the role and Amitabh stepped in to make history. The principal reason why Dev Saheb outlived his generation of actors in the silver screen was that he kept abreast with the times and looked after his appearance. He told me once that since childhood, he was administered Chyawanprash by his mother and he continued to have it.
Dev Anand had a mind of his own and politically was never afraid of taking a stand. He was one of the very few stars who came out against Emergency in 1977. He was romantically linked to many actresses of his time, Suraiya and Madhubala in the early years and Zeenat Aman in the later phase. However, he did not allow that to affect his work. In an interview, he told me that he would tell me about his heroines one day, but that opportunity never arose. A product of Government College, Lahore, where he was a batchmate of my father, Dev Anand was specially invited by Atal Bihari Vajpayee when he as the Prime Minister undertook his historic Bus Yatra to Lahore. He became a hit, across the border as well. For him, there was no singer who could sing ghazals better than Mohammad Rafi and lighter songs better than Kishore Kumar, both of whom were his favourite playback voices. Most of the films produced by him had music by Sachin Dev Burman, in whose abilities, he had immense faith. However, many others also composed hit songs for him in his various other starrers. When he fell ill, he went to London for treatment since he did not wish any of his fans to see him in the condition he was in. It is not surprising that he breathed his last in the British capital where his last rites were also performed. While remembering him on his 97th birth anniversary on Saturday, we must never forget that Dev Anand was the man for all seasons of the Indian cinema. A phenomenon who left an indelible imprint on the celluloid.