I am glad that while the writer praised Dev Anand and his earlier works,he had the pragmatism to call a spade a spade. Dev Anand (and unfortunately now his son,Donno where he gets his narcissm from) lived in a world where his self obsession marred his creativity.. Causing many to smirk at some of his famed idiosyncracies
Re: Well put
by Rationalist on Jan 03, 2012 08:48 PM
Devanand looked good until he was handled by others who actually made him look good by their team work. But when he started to thinking about himself which was nothing but overthinking, he hit the bottom and could not get the response which he expected.
Nice article. Astonishing how many articles Rediff alone has produced. As an avid Dev fan, enjoyed every one of them. Thank you rediff.
Many of Dev's movies up until the late 70's were forward thinking. Baazi was the forerunner for so many gambling movies - what style, what panache. Johnny Mera Naam was the flamboyant precursor to 100's of lost and found hits especially by Manmohan Desai. Des Pardes had every villain you could think of and just the one hero - so unlike the multi hero starrers of that era.
I am not sure I can comment on his later movies because I never saw anything that was released after 1980. Daresay that holds true for everyone who has been critical including Mr Pais. Maybe just maybe he deserved a little more loyalty from his fans. With the power of internet and Dev's easy accessibility, it ought to have been possible to make him face reality and produce a few more masterpieces in the last two decades.
Re: In love
by kunjan shah on Jan 03, 2012 01:46 AM
DEV ANAND WAS SUPERB. HIS FILM'S SONGS ARE SO MELODIOUS AND HE WAS SUCH A GENTLEMAN THAT NO ONE IN BOLLYWOOD TODAY IS. I AM 34 AND HAVE SEEN HIS SO MANY FILMS . HE IS FAR BETTER THAN DILIP KUMAR AND RAJ KAPOOOR ! HE MADE US SMILE IN TUFF TIMES. DONT U DARE SAY ANYTHING AGAINST DEVANAND.
yes Dev saab was a self-obsessed person, else why would he hide behind a wig and layers of clothes? He created an image of himself and wanted to live in that for ever. But, it's also true that at that age he had more enthusiasm about making movies than may who were aged half of him. All said and done, the name and fame Devsaab got is from his early movies when he made movies with Vijay Anand or Raj Khosla.
I do hope this reaches as many people as it can because as with many other things in India, quantity over quality has been the case here as well.
Even in our own backyard we have octogenarians and septuagenarians who produce excellent work be it in the written form or painted form or even in the directed form called movies.
Dev Anand had a legacy which he milked and probably had a curiosity value as well. People like me and my generation usually brought up on a staple of Dev Anand movies and songs could see no wrong in what he did but never did we measure against the yardstick of excellence that the author has so eloquently put forth here.
All in all his movies in the last couple of decades were mediocre at best and yet he is regarded as a star in the pantheon of India actors.
Re: Very Fair Point
by nayak narayan on Jan 02, 2012 09:18 PM
Mediocre... that's the correct word ! We respect Dev Saab... but he was selfish to keep everything to himself and not promoting(except female leads) or giving his expertise to new generation.
