The evergreen Dev Anand is no more.
The screen legend breathed his last after a cardiac arrest in a London hospital where he was undergoing treatment. He was 88. His son Sunil was by his side when the end came.
Born Dharam Dev Pishori Anand on September 26, 1923, he was one of Hindi filmdom’s most enduring personalities, keeping the gossip mills speculating for years about his real age.
Moving to Mumbai (then Bombay) after his graduation in English literature from Lahore, he began doing roles in Indian People’s Theatre Association’s (IPTA) theatrical productions along with elder brother Chetan Anand. His younger brother Vijay Anand also became an acclaimed director and actor in later years.
Celebrated film director and actor Shekhar Kapur is Dev Anand’s nephew, being his sister Sheela Kanta Kapur's son. The siblings came from a well-to-do family from the undivided state of Punjab (now Narowal district of Pakistan). Their father was a wealthy lawyer named Pishorimal Anand.
Dev Saab, as he was popularly known as in industry circles, began his career in 1946 but played lead roles well in to the 1980s. He did not have to struggle too much after his debut film Hum Ek Hain. Just a couple of years later, he was offered a stellar role in Ziddi, under the Bombay Talkies banner, which catapulted him to superstardom.
His urbane style and mannerisms set himself apart from other leading men of his time and at one time he was referred to as the “Gregory Peck of India” because of his more than passing resemblance to the Hollywood superhero.
Dev Anand notched up equal successes as producer and director, though his first as director, Prem Pujari, flopped. His production house, Navketan Films, is one of the industry’s most well known banners.
One of his early successes was Guide (directed by brother Vijay), also his first colour film. He persuaded legendary novelist R.K. Narayan, from whose novel he adapted the film, for consent to produce the celluloid version of the book. The 1965 film was an Indo-US co-production and was shot simultaneously in English.
In his long career, which saw several ups and downs, he directed 19 films, produced 31, of which 18 are considered box office successes by film industry circles.
He received the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for his lifelong contribution to Hindi cinema in 2002 and the Government of India awarded him the Padma Bhushan a year earlier.
The entire Hindi film industry, including the dozens of actors whose careers he helped launch, will undoubtedly grieve his passing deeply.