Forever Dev

An interview with a Bollywood legend we lost a decade ago this year

- Shekhar Hattangadi

AS THE YOUNG woman lay dying, she called out to her husband and one of her sons. Holding the boy’s hand, she gazed into his eyes and told her husband, “One day, this son of mine will become a very important man.”

With such expectations to live up to, it was no wonder that 19-year-old Dharamdev Pishorimal Anand vetoed his father’s advice to find a secure job in the local bank. Convinced that fame and fortune awaited him in the movies, the young graduate left Gurdaspur, Punjab for Bombay, with just ₹30 in his pocket.

It was 1943, the height of World War II, and times were tough. But in less than three years he got his break as an actor, and went on to become Bollywood’s most durable leading man—Dev Anand. His trademark screen persona of the charming, urbane rake endeared him to millions. And his unique mannerisms—a loose-limbed gait, tilted head, index finger pointed up—was imitated throughout the country.

Today, having starred in or directed more than 100 movies in the span of nearly six decades, Dev Anand, often works 17-hour days, his head teeming with ideas for films. We met Dev Anand in his spacious suburban Mumbai office overflowing with scripts, files, books, magazines, cinema posters and snapshots of aspiring starlets.

RD: What still motivates you at age 80?