NASEER DEV SAHAB KA SAB SE BADDA FAN , LEKIN AISA KYA HUVA JO ?.... BY ALI PETER JOHN

They say even God agrees that not every man and woman can be good , honest and sincere , but Dev Anand proved to be an exception to the rule of both God and man . He was good , honest and sincere till the last breath of his life - Ali Peter John

And is why he was always liked , loved and admired and even worshipped by one and all and even by those who would have loved to hate him . Of all the people I met during my long association with Dev Sahab , the one man who I found was a die - hard fan of Dev Sahab , it waa Naseeruddin Shah.

By the early 80s , Naseer had made a formidable place for himself as an actor in what were called art films and parallel cinema films .

He made hardly rupees twenty five thousand for an art film made by Shyam Benegal or Govind Nihalani and this is what made him rebel against art cinema and he did comercial films like "Tridev" and sang songs like tirchi topiwaale , all because he was paid three to five lakhs of rupees and there were producers and directors who were willing to pay him more than that for playing any kind of silly roles and he gladly (?) did them .

It was at this stage that Dev Anand was making "Swami Dada" and he had a role which he felt only Naseer could play . He asked me if Naseer would agree to do the role and I asked Naseer if he would do the role Dev Sahab had for him in Swami Dada .

And the response from Naseer gave me a jolt . Naseer said. " I have been a fan of only two people , Mr Dev Anand and Dara Singh. I used to see all their films on the first day and at the first show whether I had to beg , borrow or steal . It will be a dream fulfilled if I get s chance to work with my dream hero , Dev Anand .

I don't want any money. I will work entirely according to his script and on his own terms and conditions". I was too thrilled to go and tell Dev Sahab what Naseer had told me. A meeting were arranged at Dev's Pent House , all the details were finalised and Naseer started working on Swami Dada.

It was a wonderful sight to see young actors like Naseer , Mithun and Padmini Kholapure staying back after their shoots were over only to watch how Dev Sahab continued to work till late in the night without losing his energy or his enthusiasm . ......

Naseer was so carried away by Dev sahab's enthusiasm that he even agreed to play a lead role in his next film , " Sau Crore " and the film was made in a short time and without any hassles .

I was doing a photo shoot with Dev Sahab and Naseer for the promotion of "Sau Crore" at his Pent House at 9 in the morning.

My photographer got so excited about shooting Dev and Naseer that he messed up the shoot , but the cover photograph was scheduled for the following Friday and I had to bring Dev Sahab and Naseer together again within the next day and I somehow managed to get both of them together and made my photographer so aware of his mistake that he took or the camera took a good photograph of Dev Sahab and Naseer who perhaps the camera knew were not going to come back before any camera at any time again.

AISE SUNHERE MAUKE KABHI KABHI AATE HAI , AUR MAIN KITNA KUSH NASEEB HOON KI MERI ISS CHOTTISI ZINDAGI MEIN AISE MAUKE BAAR BAAR AAYE .