Many times, why, most of the time, the birth of a child never indicates any future; renowned astrologers may refute my statement and there are exceptional cases. Dharamdev Pishorimal Anand, after completing his graduation, wanted to act in movies. A 23-year-old young man gatecrashed into the office a producer of Prabhat Film Studios and expressed his desire to act. Surprisingly, the producer was impressed with the young man’s eyes, smile and supreme confidence and offered him a break. 

Well, that was the starting point of actor Dev Anand who would have been a hundred-year-old on 26 Sept 2023. But he left a legacy of some of his exquisite movies and immortal songs on 3 Dec 2011. 

I would say Dev Anand’s was an enviable career of name and fame; though I am not an admirer of Dev Saab, I like him in some way for his ear for good music and lyrics, his unique style and sophistication and well his twinkle of eyes and smile. 

I personally like the songs like ‘Phoolon ki rang se’, ‘Shohiyon me ghola jaye’, (Prem Pujari) ‘Aaj phir jeene ki tamanna hai’, ‘Gaata rahe mera dil’ (Guide), ‘Nafrat karne walon’ and ‘Pal bhar ke liye’ (Johnny Mera Naam), ‘Rula ke gaye sapna mera’ (Jewel Thief), ‘Dum maro dum’ (Hare Rama Hare Krishna), ‘Jivan ki bagiya mehgegi’ (Tere Mere Sapne) are some of my all- time favorites. Please note the music for most of the songs was by Burman-da senior, his favorite. He seems to have the credit of bringing Shailendra and Neeraj to write for Burman-da. 

One can find a fair amount of sophistication in his picturization of the songs also if not outstanding. 

Well, even if you don’t like Dev Anand, if you are a movie buff and have time, read the extensive article of Anuj Kumar ‘The Many Shades of Dev Anand’ in Friday Review, The Hindu. And listen to those songs I have mentioned just by a search-click of a button on your PC.