Dev Anand RIP

[Nick Dando]

From the BBC

BBC News - Bollywood legend Dev Anand dies at 88 in London

Nick

Bollywood legend Dev Anand dies at 88 in London


Legendary Bollywood actor-director Dev Anand has died in London of a heart attack, aged 88, family members say.

Anand, who produced and acted in dozens of films, was unwell and had gone to London for a check-up.

He was known as the Adonis of Indian cinema for his good looks and the ease with which he played romantic roles.

His films included Guide, Paying Guest and Jewel Thief. He continued to direct almost until his death, releasing his last film, Chargesheet, in September.

Over the course of his 65-year career, which began in 1946, Anand became one of India's iconic actor-directors.

"An era has come to an end. Dev Anand leaves a void never perhaps to be filled again. He never gave up belief, his joy of life," tweeted Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan.

Mr Bachchan wrote that he had met Anand at a film premier recently. "He was weak but full of spirit," he tweeted.

"Grew up watching your films. Sorry to say goodbye," tweeted writer Salman Rushdie.

Bollywood director Mahesh Bhatt said: "As the new dawn breaks over Mumbai I salute the memory of this star who has left left us with the glow of his smile."

Dev Anand introduced some of the most fashionable actresses to Bollywood, including Zeenat Aman, with whom he paired in Hare Krishna Hare Ram.

He also set up a production company in 1949, Navketan International Films, which produced more than 35 films.

Anand was much feted, winning the Dada Saheb Phalke award, the highest honour in Indian cinema, in 2002, and countless other awards.

One of his most popular films was Guide, based on a novel by celebrated Indian writer RK Narayan.

In his autobiography, Romancing with Life, he said he had been approached by the Nobel prize-winning author Pearl S Buck and director Tad Danielewski to act in an American film, based on an English novel by an Indian writer.

"But I eventually declined the offer. I told them that keeping my star status in India in mind, I would accept a role only if it was really challenging and aroused my interest," he wrote.

Dev Anand is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter.


Analysis

Sudha G Tilak
Delhi
Dev Anand was the first hero of India cinema who was a happy figure.

The heroes of post-independence era cinema were solemn and grave like Dilip Kumar or tragic underdogs like Raj Kapoor.

Dev Anand ushered in positivity. He made the Indian leading man look dapper and debonair and playful and romantic.

His dashing looks and makeover included a quiff, neckties and hats jauntily perched on his head with a stick he liked to twirl. He dressed like a gentleman of leisure and smiled and joked with his leading ladies.

His early success had him playing a rake and bad guys with a magic touch with women who found his appeal irresistible.

He was called Mr Charming and later with his magic pairing with actress Madhubala he was called the Adonis of Indian cinema. Though he had a long standing marriage his image of a ladies' man was one he wore with elan.

Some of the actresses he introduced to Bollywood went on to become some of the most famous on the South Asia screen.

[Nimuae]

He will be missed ! नमस्कार R.I.P. Dev

[Nick Dando]

From the Guardian

Dev Anand obituary | Film | The Guardian

Nick


Dev Anand obituary
Popular Bollywood matinee idol, producer and film-maker
Lalit Mohan Joshi
guardian.co.uk, Monday 5 December 2011 16.35 GMT


The Indian actor, producer and film-maker, Dev Anand, who has died aged 88, was the first and longest serving matinee idol of Bollywood cinema. The pinnacle of his career came with Guide (1965), a film based on RK Narayan's novel, in which Dev played the male lead opposite the classical Indian dancer turned actor Waheeda Rahman. Dev's talented younger brother Vijay directed it. During the golden age of Indian cinema, in the 1950s and 1960s, Dev, along with Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar, formed the trio of stars who dominated the silver screen. Dev's urbanity and quirky mannerisms made him especially popular among the young and women.

He was born in undivided India at Gurdaspur, in the Punjab. His father, Pishorimal Anand, was a leading lawyer. After graduating from the prestigious Government College, in Lahore, Dev tried and failed to enter the Royal Indian Navy. He finally decided to follow his elder brother Chetan's footsteps to join Bombay's film world.

Chetan was the eldest of the three Anand brothers and had established himself as an avant-garde film-maker with his debut film Neecha Nagar (Lowly City, 1946), one of the first Indian films to gain international recognition – it shared the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film at the first Cannes film festival in 1946.

Chetan helped Dev to join the leftist Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA) where he met many leading figures active in theatre and films. Dev was soon offered the lead role in the Prabhat Film company's Hum Ek Hain (We Are One, 1946) directed by PL Santoshi. But the film that made him a star came two years later from the famous Bombay Talkies studio. This was Shahid Lateef's Ziddi (Stubborn, 1948). Kishore Kumar was introduced as a playback singer in this film for Dev, who later became his romantic voice for many films.

In 1949 Dev and Chetan formed their own Navketan Films. Their first production, Afsar (1950), based on Nikolai Gogol's novel The Government Inspector, with Dev and the singing star Suraiya in the lead roles, and directed by Chetan, sank without a trace. But soon the company was placed on a firm footing with the blockbuster crime thriller Baazi (The Wager, 1951).

In the 1950s and 1960s Navketan's Taxi Driver (1954), Nau Do Gyarah (Nine Plus Two Makes Eleven, 1957), Kalapani (Life Sentence, 1958), Kala Bazaar (Black Market, 1960) and Tere Ghar Ke Samne (In Front of Your House, 1963) kept Dev at the forefront of Indian cinema. The high watermark of his career as a film star came with Guide, Jewel Thief (1967), Johny Mera Nam (My Name is Johny, 1970) and Tere Mere Sapne (Our Dreams, 1971), all directed by Vijay Anand.

Dev turned to directing with Prem Pujari (The Worshipper of Love, 1970), a film about the Indo-Pakistani war of 1965. As a film-maker, his greatest successes came with Haré Raama Haré Krishna (Praise Rama, Praise Krishna, 1971), which dealt with the problem of drugs among the young; and Des Pardes (At Home and Abroad, 1978), about illegal immigration in the UK.

Dev also had the distinction of introducing many talents and fresh faces to popular Indian cinema, such as Kalpana Kartik, Zeenat Aman and Tina Munim.

Dev was a true democrat, which was apparent from the way he rallied against the ruling Congress government's suppression of rights during Indira Gandhi's Emergency era. He was also secular and broadminded. Though a Hindu by birth, he proposed to Suraiya, a Muslim. After being rejected by her family, he married Kartik, a Catholic.

He heroically defied the ravages that time stamped on his once strikingly handsome physique and distinctive style of delivery. He continued to make films, with himself as the male lead against new young unknowns, until even some of his greatest admirers started to wish he would just call it a day. Yet, he kept going as though nothing had changed. In 2007, his insightful autobiography, Romancing With Life, was published.

Dev is survived by Kalpana, their son Sunil and daughter Devina.

• Dharam Dev Anand, actor, producer and film-maker, born 26 September 1923; died 4 December 2011, London.