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The three giants of Indian Cinema from the 1940s to 1970 are Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand and Raj Kapoor among the male actors. Being the first, they set the standards for acting and every one since then follows one or the other and they will continue to be the legends of India.
BBC reports, “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 checkup. In his 65-year career, which began in 1946, Anand became one of India’s iconic actor-directors. “
Dev Anand visited Dallas in 1994-95 to give a keynote speech at the Asian American Hotel Owners Association at Loews Anatole. One of the Dallas Board Members of AAHOA asked me to bring out a special issue of Asian News Magazine that I published from 1993-2000.
I spent days digging up listing his films – 105 in all with basic information about the heroine, music director, year released, and the key songs. We presented a few copies for him to sign, he looked up the list, indeed he was engrossed in it and patted on my back “Shabash” and said he did not have to list himself and he was going to carry that paper with him. Remember the Internet did not exist then.
When you watched Dev Anand Movie, you always came out with vigor, there was always something enthusiastic about him. He energizes you. A lot of us thought he literally mimicked Gregory Peck and ironically, Surayya the woman was in love with him; also chased Gregory Peck. I remember stories about Gregory Peck visiting Bangalore for the Silver Jubilee celebrations of his movie McKenna’s Gold at Lido Theater.
Dev Anand’s biggest movies were Guide and Hare Rama Hare Krishna.
It’s my tribute to Dev Anand, who was a part of most of my life. I enjoyed his films and songs and the sense of youth he imbued was incredible. Indeed, on my wedding day, I sang the song “Mera man tera pyaasa and – Ek but banaoonga tera”
I salute you Dev Saheb, may God bless you.
Om Shanti, Om Shanti!
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| Dev Anand and Mike Ghouse, someone was holding the Special edition of Asian News for Deve Anand. |
