Dev sahab ne" raju guide" ki zindagi badal di thi

Dev Anand was one big star who never ill - treated or spoke harshly to his fans . In fact , he went out of his way to be nice and kind to them  - ALi Peter John

In his office , whether it was in Khira Nagar in Santa Cruz or ,"Anand" on Pali Hill , he had strict instructions left with his security staff that no one who wanted to see him should be stopped , but sent to him without asking too many questions .

The only men he had a slight aversion to were those who tried to imitate him to make money whether in films or anywhere else .

I have seen him stopping the entry of a dublicat at Anand because he had collected a small group in the lobby of Anand and was "entertaining " them with some of his mannerisms .

But , I was surprised when he took a liking for a poor man from Bhopal who had dedicated his life to the character of "Raju Guide" , the immortal character Dev sahab played in "Guide " .

This man had no other life than to live his life like ,"Raju Guide" . He dressed like ,"Raju Guide " walked like ,"Raju Guide " and knew all the lines spoken by ,"Raju Guide" especially the opening lines of "Guide" as spoken by Dev Sahab in his inimitable style in the film .

He also knew everything about the film about which he talked to people after collecting them at different corners .

He was known all over Bhopal and had even impressed the then Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh , Mr S C Shukla and his younger brother .

He once came to Dev Sahab and told him that his life and the life of his family would change for the better if Dev Sahab took a few hours off and flew to Bhopal and met the Chief Minister with him .

He said he had already spoken to the Chief Minister and he had agreed to welcome Dev Sahab to Bhopal at a special function to honour him at any time that suited Dev Sahab.

I always knew that Dev Sahab did not like it very much to attend public functions , but I was thoroughly surprised when he said that he would certainly come and would tell him the date in a couple of days .

"Raju Guide" was thrilled to tears and decided to stay put in Bombay till Dev Sahab gave him a date .

Those were my lucky and glorious days because Dev Sahab wanted me to go with him whenever he went for a function or a shooting .

And as I expected , Dev Sahab called me and before I could stay hello ,. he said, " Ali, parso Bhopal jaana hai, tereko saath chalna hai ".

I had got into the habit of never saying no to anything that he said because he was my Dev ( the Dev above willing and my health willing, I hope to bring out my book on Dev Sahab which I have decided will be called " My Dev "

Dev Sahab and me took a morning flight to Indore and I always loved to see him travel in the front row with no one sitting next to him with his hat or cap covering his face . He said it was the best way to reflect on life while one is 30 , thousand feet in the air.

The CM's younger brother flew to Indore in a government plane and we landed in Bhopal , only to see a massive crowd at the airport and all the way to the venue where the function was to be held.

The CM received Dev Sahab and" Raju Guide" was with the CM , looking every inch the Raju Guide from ,"Guide"

Dev Sahab , the CM and other VIP's spoke highly about the dedication and humility of "Raju Guide" who kept crying tears of joy and trying to touch Dev Sahab's feet which Dev Sahab didn't allow him to do ( he was against the practice of touching the feet of men or women ).

Dev Sahab was very aware of the fact about how ministers make promises during a public function and then forget all the promises they make and so he asked the CM to see that something concrete was done for" Raju Guide" and his family .

He kept following up the case of ,"Raju Guide" till the promises made to him were kept . We flew back to Bombay the same afternoon after Dev Sahab had half an apple for lunch.

And from the airport Dev Sahab drow to his Pent House and got back to work on the script of his next film .

AAPNE APNE BEHAD PYAAR SE KITNE SAARE LOGO KI ZINDAGI MEIN BAHAAR LAAII , DEV SAHAB . AUR MAIN KITNA KHUSHNASEEB HOON KU AAPNE MUJHE ZINDAGI BHAR KE LIYE AAPKA AMULYA PYAAR DIYA