Dev Anand Was The First Star To Build A Bungalow In Juhu Village…

By Ali Peter John

Ek Tanha Sa Bangla Dev Sahab Ka

Fifty years ago, there was only one bungalow in this area with the army cantonment as the only other known place.

Dev Anand who had come from Gurdaspur in Punjab with a degree in English Literature had come to Bombay like many other young men like him. He too wanted to be an actor and succeeded before many others could even start.

A stage came when there were only three legends in the industry, Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand and Raj Kapoor and Dev Anand was so much in demand that he could have signed all the films that came his way and make lakhs of rupees those days, but he made it a rule to work in only five films on a year and who years later said, “if I had signed all the films that came to me, I could have bought atleast half of Bombay". The other two legends built their own bungalows, Dilip Kumar on Pali hill and Raj Kapoor in Deonar, Chembur where he also built RK Studios.

Dev Anand had always wanted to be away from the crowd and so selected a spot in Juhu which was only known for its beach and the local people who were known as East Indians and were mostly Roman Catholics. Dev Anand built his bungalow like one of the bungalows in some holiday resort and lived with his actress-wife Kalpana Kartik and their two children, Suneil and Devina.

He was at peace for several years till some sharks saw in Juhu the ideal place to come up with bungalows, hotels and soon Juhu was one of the many crowded localities and Dev's bungalow stood in a corner with an identity of its own. He was shocked when buildings came up all around his house and there were several smaller stars who took the cue from Dev Anand and built their own homes, well-known names like Manoj Kumar Dharmendra, Jeetendra, Dimple Kapadia, Danny and Amitabh Bachchan who has four bungalows in Juhu now. These are besides the any number of filmmakers, writers and composers who either built their own homes or lived in posh apartments that came up all over and ruined the beauty of Juhu...

Other bungalows came up like the bungalow of Ajay Devgn opposite the bungalow of Dharmendra and there were three theatre and multiplexes which came up and so did several malls and department stores. The traffic had grown beyond control and Dev Anand was feeling sick living in the bungalow he had built with so much love and care. Now, he had neighbours like Madhuri Dixit and Dimple Kapadia living in apartments which were also known as Iris Park which was once the exclusive address of Dev Anand...

Dev Anand who was not facing the best of times as a filmmaker sold his office-cum recording studio, ‘Anand’ on Pali Hill on the advice of his son, Suneil and his health deteriorated as soon as his office and studio made way for a multi-storeyed building which looked ugly when compared to the bungalow in which he had his pent house where he did most of his planning, thinking and writing (he wrote every page of his autobiography in his own handwriting in the same pent house. He however was never the same Dev after he lost his pent house and flew to London from where he never flew back alive...

My fascination, love and absolute worship for this Dev on earth makes me go mad when I think about him and write above him and I have never needed any excuse to remember him or write about him. Believe it or not, another legend like Manoj Kumar who knows about my love for ‘Dev Sahab’ sent me a video of some of the best songs of Dev Sahab which I have made it a rule to listen to at least five of his songs before I finally go to sleep.

But why am I writing about dev Sahab now? it is out of sheer agony that I am forced to write this piece for at least some sensible people to listen to and seriously do something about.

right opposite dev Sahab's bungalow where his wife the eighty-six years old Kalpana Kartik lives all alone is the open JVPD ground where grand wedding receptions and political and cultural events are held and attended by so called civilised and educated people. they are civilised till they have to urinate and the ground and the committee that runs the everyday working have not had the sense to think of having facilities for this very important function of every human being. and so the civilised people use the space opposite Dev Sahab's bungalow as an open urinal at a time when we have the first ever prime minister who has made urinating or defecation almost a crime. but who cares! he is busy being in his election mode again and others are too busy doing their own meaningful and mostly meaningless things and who had the time to cast a look on the open insult being done to one of the greatest legends of Indian cinema and one of the greatest Indians.

Will the Bombay municipal cooperation or any other power do something about this crime which has now also to be faced by Madhuri, Dimple, so many other families and above all the soldiers of our army who protect us against any enemy but find themselves helpless and hopeless before these enemies who spread dirt all over the place in spite of a notice being put up to keep away these urinating criminals to commit their crimes in the open and without any shame or respect for not only the memory of Dev Anand, but all human being.

What is the Prime Minister Swachhata Abhiyaan doing about this shame?

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Tags: Bollywood, Bollywood News, Bollywood Updates, Television, Telly News, Dev Anand,  Bungalow, Juhu Village