Dev, more Dev

And this time I challenge any man (I have done it many times and no one has accepted it but this time I challenge and I dare any living man to dare to do what Dev, our own Dev Anand, Dev’s gift did in just a week’s time). "A week is like a year for me. Just give me a challenge to do something which man can do and I’ll do it, come what may," Dev says. And he proved it in just a week without any fanfare, without any calling out khoya khoya chand from every roof-top, something he had a right to do for what he had achieved.

He was extremely busy working between 18-20 hours, trying his best to complete the dubbing of 32 major artistes working in his film Censor. The stars, the technicians, down to the spot boy, they all knew that Dev was in a hurry to complete Censor because it was not just another entertainer from his company but because he was dealing with a burning subject like censorship and the way censorship works in a dynamic democracy like India. It was while he was working in his editing room that he received the first fax. It was from New York. All the Indians of the city wanted to felicitate him and declare him as the winner of the life time achievement award conferred on him by the Indians settled in New York. "What was interesting was not the award (his pent house is packed with awards from different parts of the world) but the fact that the award was presented to him by Ms Hillary Clinton, the wife of President Bill Clinton, who will most probably take on George Bush as the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party for the post of the President for which political activity is going on all over America at a hectic pace. Dev found Hillary very charming (Dev always finds all women charming). Dev had also taken his daughter, Devina, with him for the first time. It took Devina and Hillary very little time to make friends. They got themselves photographed and Devina keeps it as a treasure. She doesn’t even allow her own father to touch it. "They almost look like sisters," an excited Dev says. To take more care of the photograph, Devina has taken away the photograph to the bungalow Dev has built for himself in Bangalore where Devina lives nowadays.

Hillary in her speech also said that if and when she becomes the President of America, she will make all out efforts to see that India would be the first country she visited. Dev was visibly thrilled and there were tears of joy in his eyes. He was never treated in his own country so well. Dev in his brief speech said, "I am an Indian but I like more things western, especially America. I make it a point to visit America as many times as possible because I like both, the country and its people.

Dev had just reached Mumbai and Dev, as you know doesn’t suffer from any kind of jetlag and other drags that stop you from working and going on working. Believe it or not from the airport he was straight back to his editing studio when he received another fax. This time it was a fax from San Francisco in America. Dev was in a dilemma. The Indians of San Francisco also wanted him as the chief guest at one of their key functions. Dev was in a dilemma. He found it difficult to take a decision but once he took his decision he just packed his bags and the next day he was on a flight to San Francisco. He was in for a very big surprise when the people of San Francisco decided to confer on him the honour of "the entertaining Indian entertainer of the millennium". Dev was once again thrilled, excited and moved to tears of happiness. He had never experienced so much happiness in another country in just so many days and that too in his favourite country - America. The awards have never stopped coming in ever since Dev had entered the 50th year of his career. But he has not thought of stopping but only going ahead. Just to think of it the man at the age of 78 makes a controversial film called Censor with 32 major stars and paying all of them even though some of the refused to accept any kind of money but Dev was Dev. He saw to it that every one who worked for Nav Ketan was paid. At the most they could give him a little concession but no one would work free.

Dev is now busy giving the finishing touches to Censor. He plans to release it during Diwali but there are dilemmas galore. He is being invited by all kinds of places to be honoured for his contribution as an actor, as a studio owner, as a filmmaker and as a man constantly in touch with everything that happens in the world even though he is busy working 18-20 hours a day at the age of 78. Countries all over are vying with one another to load him with more and more honour but what about his own country to which he has given studios, directors, music directors, lyricists, writers. Since the last three years all right thinking people are of the opinion that he should be awarded the Dada Saheb Phalke Award but talk to Dev about it and he says, "Oh! that award, the Dada Saheb Phalke Award is for retired people and I have not yet retired and there are no chances of my being retired so soon." That’s Dev’s opinion but the millions of Dev’s fans who have been entertained by him for the last 50 years, which is a feat no ordinary man can accomplish are of the unanimous opinion that Dev Dharam Anand deserves the Dada Saheb Phalke Award. "And if he doesn’t then no one else deserves it these days when no one does anything for no one," one of the leading filmmakers who wanted to go anonymous, said. Socho tab tak, Dev Sahab har phikr ko dhue mein udate chale. His world is a world by itself. Dev’s world, only Dev’s world.

Ali Peter John