 Charming account from a living legend |
| Review Date: January 1, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Makarand D. Nalgirkar, Ann Arbor, MI USA |
Dev Anand is of course a living legend of Hindi Cinema. The story of Dev Anand's life spans 60 years, from pre-independence to present day, and it is a fascinating account. The movie milestones along the way include such gems as Baazi, Taxi Driver, Guide, Jewel Thief, Johnny Mera Naam, Hare Rama Hare Krishna, Des Pardes and Man Pasand among many many others. Dev Anand provides interesting facts and stories about the making of these movies, and the people involved in making them.
For fans of Hindi Cinema, Dev Anand and Navketan -- his film company -- stand also for the glorious music from S.D. Burman and Kishore Kumar that charms listeners to this day. To my disappointment, Dev Anand has spoken precious little about the music of Navketan, and also about these legendary music directors and singers who were such an integral part of the success and romance of Dev Anand's films. Navketan is also about Vijay "Goldie" Anand, his younger brother who no doubt was a very capable director and who infused much of the magic in these movies. Dev Anand speaks fondly of Goldie and narrates several incidents, but again, it falls a little short of the stellar credit that his brother deserves in creating Dev Anand the phenomenon.
Dev Anand comes across as being very honest and open about his narrative, and no doubt this is an "open book" on his life. He also speaks well of his contemporaries like Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar although they were also his competitors of sorts, and about the leading ladies that he introduced in his films including Zeenat Aman, although he clearly feels betrayed and hurt by some of their actions. As in his films, he seems to have kept moving ahead and blown every worry away like smoke-rings, as immortalized in the Hum Dono song "Har fiqr ko dhuve mein udaata chala gaya".
Dev Anand is clearly in love with himself and with his on-screen persona, which he has promptly addressed right in the preface. However, at times the tone of the narrative can be characterized by his famous dialog from Guide (quoted a little out of context here): "Na dukh hai na sukh hai; Na din hai na duniya; Na insaan na bhagwan; Sirf main, main, main" -- There is neither joy nor pain; No days, no worlds; No man, no God; There is only me, me, and me". As a star who is busy "Romancing with Life" and who has no doubt enriched the world of Hindi Cinema in no small measure, I am sure that we can forgive him for that.
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Romancing with life - yes, learning from it - not sure
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| Review Date: February 2, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Abhinav Agarwal, Bangalore, India |
Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar, and Raj Kapoor, were the first three superstars of Hindi cinema, before there were superstars. Each was born within a couple of years of each other (Dev Anand in 1923, Raj Kapoor in 1924, and Dilip Kumar in 1922), each started his career around the same time (Dev Anand in 1946, Raj Kapoor in 1943, Dilip Kumar in 1946), and while Raj Kapoor died in 1988, and Dilip Kumar has been in retirement for more than a decade, Dev Anand continues to go strong, acting in and directing a movie every few years for over six decades now, the latest one released in 2005. Dev Anand had the screen persona of a dashing, evergreen, ever youthful happy-go-lucky city chap, with a legion of a mostly female fan following. Even in real life he has carried himself with the same elan, and at 85 years is an inspiration for many people.
The book is a celebration of Dev Anand's (Dharam Dev Anand is his full name, as he informs us) life and times, and his romance with life. It proceeds in pretty much a chronological fashion, starting with his childhood and ending with the year 2007, when the last chapter was written. It is written in breezy and mostly frank and honest style. Whether it is his sexual education, first on the upper berth of a train, and later while shooting for his first movie, whether his struggles to find a footing in the Hindi movie industry, or his encounters with the censor authorities, or his crush for Zeenat Aman, or his first love with Suraiya, and the heartbreaking end to the affair, or his visit to communist Soviet Union, he comes across as refreshingly honest.
The book is divided into numbered chapters, each small. Sometimes only a couple of pages, but rarely more than 4-5 pages. Each chapter covers a specific episode. So you get one chapter each for Guru Dutt, Kisore Kumar, his brother Vijay Anand, Indira Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Nehru, Rajiv Gandhi... with a brief reminiscence by Dev.
The language is quite ok in the book, the prose is fairly engaging, perhaps a result of Dev Anand's Lahore Government College education (one of the most prestigious educational institutions in the country in then undivided India, pre-Aug 14/15 1947).
Surprisingly, and refreshingly so, the book has a fairly comprehensive 12 page index, something you would not expect from a movie star's autobio.
However...
While the book 400+ page book makes for quick and easy reading, it has shortcomings too.
You will learn nothing of the craft of film making from reading this book. You will learn nothing about the great movies that Dev Anand starred in. Whether Dev Anand's collaboration with the great director and actor and close friend Guru Dutt (Jaal and Baazi), nor the fantastic musical collaboration with SD Burman A Sa Re Ga Ma Tribute to Commemorate the Centenary Celebrationa, nor the immense contributions of Chetan Anand and Vijay Anand (both brothers of Dev Anand) in such movies as 'Tere Ghar Ke Samne', 'The Guide', 'Johny Mera Naam', 'Jewel Thief', 'Kala Bazar', 'Nau do gyarah'. You have to go through Dev Anand's filmography at the end of the book to realize that Raj Khosla had directed Dev Anand in some past greats like 'Bombai Ka Babu', 'Kala Pani', 'CID', and 'Solva Saal'. What made the great movies that Dev Anand starred in great? Why is it that Dev Anand did not have a single truly commercial or artistically acclaimed hit after he started directing his movies? Consider these truly unremarkable ventures like 'Ishq Ishq Ishq', 'Sau Crore ', 'Awwal Number', 'Gangster', 'Mr Prime Minister', 'Censor', 'Lootmaar' that Dev Anand directed and starred in? What were the lessons that Dev Anand learn from these disasters? Introspection? No. He acknowledges that 'Ishq Ishq Ishq' was one of the biggest disasters of his career. Why? You don't know.
Perhaps the style of his book can be summed up with a line from his movie, Hum Dono: "barbadiyon ka shog manana fizool tha, barbadiyon ka jashn manata chala gaya" (loosely and inarticulately translated as 'lamenting disasters was a waste, I celebrated disasters'). |
Quite interesting reading
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| Review Date: April 23, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Mozeena Bano, Virginia, USA |
As I was an ardent fan of all Dev Anand's old movies, the book was quite an interesting one to go through, to recollect back on his many movies with famous actors. The narration was intriguing at times and well described many times. He has almost mentioned all the persons related to his work. But being a fan of most of his songs with Mohd Rafi, I was little disappointed that he had not mentioned his or Hemant Kumar's names even once!
Written quite boldly at times, the whole narrative is interesting though a bit stretched at the end of the narration. All the best to the famous/ old, Ever Green Hero of Golden Old Era!
Mozeena Bano, Virginia. |
Almost excellent
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| Review Date: May 19, 2010 |
| Reviewer: H. Kamath, Philadelphia PA |
Bollywood screen legend Dev Anand finally opens up about his life and times in an autobigraphy that is as entertaining as almost any movie he has ever starred in. For a man who has repeatedly claimed that he doesn't dwell on the past, his memory of events that took place more than a half century ago is remarkably vivid. His struggles in Bombay, his failed romance with then reigning superstar Suraiyya, his friendship with film maker, and real life tragedian, Gurudutt (Dev Anand was one of the first to witness the film maker's dead body), his many encounters with women (the one with the middle aged Parsi woman on the train is absolutely hilarious), are all narrated with admirable eloquence and honesty. However, there are other moments in the book when he is not as forthcoming and one gets the distinct feeling he has something to hide. His confession of love for protege Zeenat Aman comes as a shock not because it cannot be true but because by the time he makes it, his relationship with her is almost over.
It's only in the latter part of the book, where he talks about the last couple of decades, that the narrative slips somewhat and I found myself skimming over some of the pages. Clearly, he is not too proud of the recent past (who can blame him) but his youthful, 'evergreen' image won't allow him to admit it. There is a bit of bluster about his many directorial disasters (which, as a Dev Anand fan, I must confess has been painful to witness. One is tempted to sing 'Kya Se Kya Ho Gaya' like his character in the classic 'Guide'.) If he is to be believed, hits and flops don't matter to him at all! What he seems to be concealing is that he, like many 'has been' movie makers before him, is desperate for another hit, just so he can finally bid us farewell and ride off into the sunset.
There is plenty here that should be of interest not only to Dev Anand fans but also to anyone interested in Bollywood, and post-independence Indian, history. There are pleasant recollections of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister, whom he met along with Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor, Bollywood's famous triumvirate of the 1950s (the three cheekily quiz a blushing Nehru about his affair with Lady Mountbatten), and other Indian and world celebrities. He discusses his brief foray into politics in the 1970s and the reasons that compelled him in that direction. He talks about his estrangement from elder brother and mentor, Chetan Anand. At the end of the book, I felt a much greater affinity for the man (not that he needs any more of it in this life time) and a better appreciation of his humanity. Indeed, I was left with a feeling not different from what I have often felt at the end of many of his movies. I wished it didn't have to end. |
book works the dvd does not !
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| Review Date: November 5, 2009 |
| Reviewer: APPLE, NEW YORK, NY |
| This book was purchased as a present for someone who has seen eveyone of Dev's movies. I was very excited about getting this for her as it came with a bonus DVD! well .. the dvd does not work and the replacement that Amazon graciously sent also did not work .. something about territory / zone issues ... tried to get computer expert help to sort out but to no avail. However, the book was a good read and revealed that Mr. Dev Anand was a differert dreamer who marched to a drum in his own head quite a bit. a simple read that definitely left more untold than told.. a bit of a whitewashed bio but none the less it was a nice read. Unfortunately the DVD still has not worked and shed a dark pallor on my shiny present! a bit like a kid who gets a toy robot for the holidays that just sits there dispite the battery changes and tossing around. I guess I could contact Penguin books as I have no where else to get help on this one. |
excellent
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| Review Date: September 10, 2009 |
| Reviewer: rj, |
| Great product quality with reasonable shipping time. At such a great price worth the extra wait. thanks so much |
Be Aware - No DVD with Book!
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| Review Date: August 13, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Acharya Bharat, Portland, Oregon, USA |
There is NO DVD that comes with this book. So, buyer be aware!
It is very well written with lots of interesting history of Indian cinema.
I would highly recommend this book to you!
Bharat
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