A full life
With the death of Dev Anand, the Hindi film industry has lost an “evergreen personality” — his hairstyle, cap and scarf was his brand image until the end. Born as Dharam Dev Dutt Pishori Anand in Gurdaspur, Punjab, in 1923, his passion for Hindi films lured him to Bombay in 1940, after his graduation in English literature from a government college in Lahore.
After working briefly with the military censor office, he got his first break in Prabhat Talkies production “Hum Ek Hai”.
Later he started his own production company “Navketan”. In 1970, he directed his own film “Prem Pujari” for the first time. He got his first Film Fare award in 1958 for Raj Khosla's “Kaala Pani”. There were two other major awards later on, the most prestigious of which was the “Dada Saheb Phalke Award”.
He released his autobiography “Romancing with Life” in 2007 on the occasion of Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh's birthday. Dev Anand will be remembered for his style and hit films like “Kaala Pani”, “CID”, “Des Perdes”, “Taxi Driver”, “Guide”, “Hum Dono”, “Johnny Mera Naam” - the list is endless. True to his famous song “Main Zindagi Ka Saath Nibhata Chala Gaya” he lived a full life and worked until the end, without getting tired.
Mohammed Waheed, By email
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