When Rajinikant Touched Dev Anand's Feet And Made Chennai Cry

 Ali Peter John

I don't remember any occasion when Dev Anand had said no to any of my requests. The only time he did, he said he was very sorry and gave me an explanation which I don't think I deserved. He in his own style said,“Ali, I am still a star and as long as I am considered a star, I have to look presentable or it would mean the end of Dev. I am not looking good today and not even feeling good. I am not meeting anyone, except you who know everything about Dev".

We had an awards function in Chennai where we were going to present awards to the best in the four languages from the South. The owner of Indian Express, Vivek Goenka wanted Dev Sahaab to be the chief guest“some how, any how". As usual, I was given the responsibility of making the request to him and when I did, he only said,“if you say, Dev will go with you, the only request I have is that you should be put up in the same hotel in a suite next to mine". I was not sure whether my miserly company would give me the privilege of living in the same hotel as Dev, but I didn't say anything to him.

He had reached the Airport a full one hour before departure and I felt embarassed to see him waiting for me. He had covered his face with his famous cap during the flight (he always had a seat in the front row on any airline). We reached Chennai and there were people in high places from my company waiting to welcome him. He literally ran towards the car kept for him and before anyone from my management could say anything, he held me by my arm and leg me into the Mercedes kept only for him and the men from the management gave me angry looks, but I didn't have to worry as long as I had Dev Sahab with me and this was an unwritten rule wherever we travelled in India and I think I must have not travelled with anyone else as I had with him. He wanted me to go with him to every place and even wanted me to go abroad, I couldn't because I didn't have a passport which I was not interested in having after a nasty showdown with the passport officer in Mumbai who had problems with my name.

We were put up at the Taj Coromandel and he had already told my people that he wanted me next to him and that is how it was.

Hardly had he settled down that the phone kept ringing. The news about landing in Chennai and living at the Taj had spread all over. He had asked me to take all calls and take decisions for him. Strangely, Kamal Haasan was the first to call and Dev asked him to come over as soon as possible. Kamal arrived within minutes and they had a long talk during which Dev had an idea of making a film with Kamal and Kamal had no other way but to say,“of course ,we must Mr Anand".(Kamal was the first man I heard calling Dev“ Mr Anand".

They were still talking when Rajnikanth who I knew for quite some time called and said he was already on the way. He reached the hotel just when Kamal was leaving and they both had large smiles on their faces. That's what Dev Sahab did to the best and most powerful rich people.

Rajnikanth touched Dev Sahaab's feet and sat on the ground and kept sitting all the time he was talking to Dev Sahab. He spoke on the kind of English only he knew at that time (he speaks fluent English now). I don't know what they exactly spoke about but when Rajnikanth came out, he had tears in his eyes and he kept saying “thank you"to me, the Mr Nobody in the company of greats. The awards function was to be held the same evening. There was a massive crowd, but the crowd was not so enthusiastic about Dev Sahab, Dev gave him a rousing recieption, but that was how they reacted to all the stars and superstars from Mumbai. But suddenly there was a commotion in the the crowd. Their “Thailava"(the living legend) had reached the ground without any invitation. He was dressed in his usual jeans, a t-shirt and rubber chappals. He ran up to the stage and again fell at the feet of Dev Sahab and the crowd went crazy. Dev couldn't believe how their “God"could fall at the feet of a star from Mumbai till Rajnikanth gave them the kind of introduction to Dev Sahab and called him“the Dev of Indian cinema"and said he was not even a speck of sand before Dev Sahab and the audience was silent and most of them had tears running down their cheeks.

Earlier that day, Khushboo who was a leading star and was once a child artist in Hindi films had the gumption to send her brother to take Dev Sahab to visit the temple that was built by her fans in her honour. I had never seen Dev Sahab looking and behaving the way he did when he said,“I don't bow before God, how do you or your sister think of calling me to see your temple which will be here today and gone tomorrow"? The brother had to leave because he too realised what many others had, no one could make Dev Sahab say yes once he had said no.

Dev Sahab was very excited when his old friend and the greatest legend of Tamil Cinema those days and for all time, Dr Sivaji Ganesan invited him to his house for lunch. Dev Sahab and me reached his house which was life one big village which had more than sixty people living under one roof. The legend kept on calling Dev Sahab“my eng(he meant young) man"and Dev Sahab kept feeling very odd and they remembered the good old times and Sivaji inquired about the health of Yusuf (Dilip Kumar) and Raj ji (Raj Kapoor)". I felt very odd when Sivaji's wife served lunch for her husband and Dev while the entire family gathered around the table. Dev Sahab only picked up a piece of carrot and started nibbling at it while Sivaji wiped away a full plate of rice and curd and said,“now I know the secret of your being a eng man". It was the longest meeting Dev Sahab had in Chennai.

The next morning, we had to leave for Mumbai and he was ready and didn't know what to do with time. He asked me,“Ali, yeh masala dosa kaise hota hai? And he walked to the restaurant of the hotel and ordered a masala dosa. Looking at him starring at a large masala dosa placed before him attracted a huge crowd around him. He had a bite at only the dosa part of the masala dosa and said,“yeh log itna saara khaana kaise khaate hai? Itna toh maine ek mahine khaa sakta hoon"and he left the masala dosa untouched.

It was time to rush to the airport. We were late because of the fuss made over him by my management. When we reached the airport, there was an announcement which said,“this is the last and final call for Mr Dev Anand and Mr Ali Peter John"Dev Sahaab carried my bag and the bag of a woman who was also late and started running towards the entrance for checkup. The woman fell on the ground. I kept struggling to keep pace with him, but couldn't. On the flight he said,“Ali, always respect time because the day time stops respecting you, you, me or even the Pope will be nowhere".

It was one of the many lessons I had learnt from the man who I always consider as Dev's(God) best gift to me, a father more than the best of fathers among any farthers in the world.

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