The Free, Frank And Fearless Dev Anand

Ali Peter John

I have  warned you, all my very  dear  readers  that  I  can not  stop  remembering  an unbelievable  man like Dev Anand and  I  have  a very strong  feeling  that  I  will keep  writing  about  him till I am drunk dead  with an overdose  of  my  admiration, love  ,total dedication  and  devotion  for this  man who was more than any man , I know, Dev Anand, the man of the  Dev(God)above who will be with me till the time when I say or call out who "Dev "for the  last time.....

It was  one of my umpteen meetings  with  Dev  Sahab  in his Pent House on one of those  afternoons  when  we often  met .Two men who  look like  politicians came  up  to the Pent House(Dev Sahab had always  instructed  his security  guards not to stop  anyone from  meeting  him).The two men  spoke as if they  were  ordering  Dev Sahab  and  one of  them  said ,"Vilasrao Deshmukh  bagal ke Girnar building  mein  aaye huwaye hai ,

aapko bulaya hai ".

Dev Sahab  leaped  up  from  his  chair,lost his temper  and screamed "kon Deshmukh  kaisa  Deshmukh  woh kon hai jo mujhe bulayega   aur aise hi main darr se unke pass bhaagkar  chale jaaoon .Woh jo bhi Deshmukh  ho unse kaho jaakar ki woh  mere  sath aakar ek chai ka payaala  pee le main  kisi ke yahaa yuhi chale jaane waala Dev nahi hoon".The two men were stunned  into  silence  and  literally  ran down  the  stairs  .Let me tell you  that  Vilasrao  Deshmukh  was  the powerful Chief-Minister of Maharathra  who  had some  of  the  most popular  and  successful  stars  and superstars  waiting  to  do anything  for  him.

He was also  the  father  of  Ritesh  Deshmukh  who later  became a small  time  star .That evening  I ask  Dev  Sahab  if he was  not scared  about  the  reaction  of the CM to how he  had  dismissed  his  request  and  Dev  Sahab  said  ,"Ali ,I  have  not been  trained  to  be  scared  of  anyone  ,however  powerful  they may be. I believe  to live  in  fear is no life at all.

It was  another time during  the  month of September,a few days before  his birthday  on September  26th  .Some  tough  looking  men worked  into  Dev  Sahab's Pent House. The man  who  look like the leader  of  the  group  told  Dev Sahab  that  he was from the Bheem Sena and  was the  Mayor  of  Poona  and  then as if like a command  he said ,"aapko haamare  function  mein  chalna hoga"and before  he could  say another  word, Dev Sahab  flared up and  blasted  the  group  and said  ,"kaisi  sena,Bheem Sena ,yeh Sena,woh Sena, kitne Sena,desh mein ek hi Sena honi chahiye  or woh hai desh ki Sena.Main bilkul  nahi aaoongaa tumhaare Sena ke function mein ".

They almost  threatened  Dev Sahab  and  when their threats  didn't  ruffle  a hair  on  Dev  Sahab's  head,the leader  offered  Dev Sahab  six acres of land in Poona .Dev Sahab  kept  quiet  for a few seconds  and  then called  his security guards  and  asked  them  to  throw  the  man  out .They  kept  saying, "hum dekh  lenge aapko ,aapne  galat  logo se panga  liya  hai".Dev Sahab  walk upto the gate of  Anand  and  came  back only  after  the  men  from  Poona  had Vanished  from the scene  .I again asked  him  the same  question  about  his  not being  scared  and  he smiled  his best  smile  and  said ,"Ali ,if I keep  getting  scared  of anyone  and  everyone, I would  not  be  able  to  function and build  my  empire  "

The  Shiv  Sena  in Bombay  had called  for  a  "Bombay Bandh" and Dev  Sahab  called  me and asked  me  to  come to his house   and  I  walked  upto  Iris Park  ,his  bungalow  in  Juhu .He was  already  sitting  in  his green  Fiat car with  him  at the  steering  .He asked  me  to  get  into  the  car and  said ,"chalo  Ali daftar chalte hai ".

I feebly  told  him  about the Bandh and  he said ,"these Bandhs  can only  lead  to  more damage "and  he  kept  driving  which  was the first  time  I  saw him driving  his own  car  .There were  young  man  who  tried  to  stop  his car and  he bravely  faced  them  and told  them  "jaao koi achha  kam  karo,yeh Bandh  -Vandh  se tumhaara  koi  faaydda  hone  wala  nahi,tumhaare  neta  log tumhari  josh  ka  faaydda  utaa  rahe  hain  unke

faaydde ke liye .

Kab jaagoge aur kab samjhoge aap log ?"And he kept  driving  as the young  men  kept  looking  at  his car  in  sheer shock  as they had  never had an experience  like the one  Dev  Sahab  gave  them.

The  upcoming  actor Anupam  Kher had a skirmish with  a  journalist  called  Troy Rebeiro  from  the  Stardust  magazine and Dev  Sahab  had come  out  in support  of  the  journalist  and  in the interest  of  the  freedom of press. Anupam  who  was  given  one of his  first  important  breaks by Dev  Sahab  managed  to get some of his co-stars  to launch  some kind of action  against  Dev  Sahab  .And the  association  of  cinema  artists  decided  to  ban  the  Anand  Recording  Studios  owned  by  Dev  Sahab  who was  a  little  disturbed.He called  me to  his  Pent  House  and asked  me  what  he  should  do  .I for  whatever  my opinion  was worth  asked  Dev  Sahab  to face  the  members  of the action  committee  of the association  .The next  morning he walked into  the  meeting of the  committee  called  to  question  Dev Sahab. He gave  the  leaders  of  the  action  committee  ,

especially Anupam  and  Mithun  Chakraborty the kind of tongue-lashing  which  made them  all shed  tears and  the ban was  called  off.

I can go on  and on  about  the  fearless  Dev Anand  ,but  I feel  I must  mention  the incident  on the  26th floor  of  the  Express  Towers  .

I had got  Dev  Sahab  special  permission  from  Mr.Ramnath  Goenka  ,the founder  of  Indian  Express  group  of  Newspapers  ,who  had never  seen  a  film  and knew  no  one  in the  film Industry  ,but  admired  and loved  Dev  Sahab  .He was  shooting  a  scene  of a  cricket  match  between the teams  of  Aamir  Khan  and  Aditya  Pancholi for  his film "Awwal Number".I still  get  the  jitters  when I think  and  visualise  the  scene  of  Dev Sahab  running  all over the twenty six  floor and perching  one  foot on the  parapet  while  the  entire  team  of technicians  and  me kept  looking  at  him  in  disbelief  and  I  had even  shut  my  eyes  in  fear  because one  wrong  move  by Dev Sahab could  have  meant  the  end of Dev  Sahab. This is  one  the  most  fearless  acts of any  human being I have  seen  .