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Today, we bring you the story of a remarkable friendship between two legendary Bollywood actors. One of them is an actor on whom the court once imposed a ban on wearing black clothes in public places—none other than Dev Anand. The other is a multi-talented artist who excelled as an actor, director, producer, choreographer, and writer—yes, we’re talking about the iconic Guru Dutt, famous for his film Pyaasa.
Dev Anand and Guru Dutt's Friendship Began with a Shirt
The friendship between Dev Anand and Guru Dutt started with an unexpected mix-up involving a shirt. Both actors used to get their clothes washed at the same laundry, and one day, their shirts got swapped. This was discovered when Dev Anand was acting in Ham Ek Hai in 1946. He noticed that the shirt he was wearing belonged to Guru Dutt, the film's young choreographer. When they spoke about it, Guru Dutt admitted that their shirts had gotten swapped at the laundry, and since he didn’t have another shirt, he had decided to wear Dev Anand’s. And that was the beginning of their friendship.
During this time, Guru Dutt made a promise that if he ever became a film producer, he would sign Dev Anand as the lead actor. Dev Anand, in return, promised that if he ever directed a film, Guru Dutt would be his director. Both of them kept their promises as time went on.
In 1951, Dev Anand starred in the film Baazi, which was also the second film produced by his production house, Navketan Films. Dev Anand handed over the direction of the film to Guru Dutt. This movie became a milestone in Guru Dutt’s personal and professional life.
Later, it was Guru Dutt’s turn to keep his promise. In 1956, he made the film CID, giving Dev Anand the opportunity to star in it. Interestingly, although Guru Dutt did not direct the film, he gave the chance to his assistant, Raj Khosla, to direct it. CID turned out to be one of the best crime thrillers of its time.
There’s an interesting anecdote related to CID as well, where it seemed that Dev Anand might not do the film. At the time, Dev Anand had a habit of demanding a minimum of half a dozen songs in every film, and he made the same request for CID. However, Raj Khosla, the director, was reluctant to agree, as he felt that a CID inspector wouldn’t look convincing while singing a song. On the other hand, Dev Anand argued that without songs, the film would not appeal to college students, a large section of the audience at the time, and the film would flop.
Eventually, a compromise was reached, and Dev Anand agreed to feature in the film with just one song. When the film was released, the song Aankhon Hi Aankhon Mein Ishara Ho Gaya became a huge hit, and the film itself was widely appreciated.
Speaking of their film careers, Dev Anand acted in many iconic films, including Taxi Driver (1954), Kala Pani (1958), Hum Dono (1961), Tere Ghar Ke Samne (1963), Guide (1965), Jewel Thief (1967), Johnny Mera Naam (1970), and Hare Rama Hare Krishna (1971). As for Guru Dutt, some of his most popular films include Baaz (1953), Mr. & Mrs. 55 (1955), Pyaasa (1957), Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959), Chaudhvin Ka Chand (1960), Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam (1962), and Aar-Paar (1954).