I have never seen anyone work so tirelessly,” said Jas Arora, who worked with late Bollywood superstar Dev Anand 13 years ago.
“He knew what he wanted and then, wasted no time getting it,” he said, reminiscing about the first time he met Dev saab. Jas walked into his office at Navketan. Dev saab took one look at him and said, “I like you. You are a very impressive young man. What do you want to be?” he asked. Jas, who was still not sure about his future, shrugged saying, “I don’t know if I am ready to join films.”
Dev saab dismissed his answer and said, “If I think you are ready, you are ready young man.” Jas was surprised that the veteran star had not asked him to go through a screen test. Once Dev Anand had decided, no one could change his mind. Jas was in awe of him from the very first meeting.
“Dev saab was a powerhouse. We could not believe his energy,” said Jas explaining his experience on day one of the shoot. “We arrived in London and drove to Scotland. It was a long and tiring journey. When we reached, he announced that we would start shooting in half-an-hour. His energy was shocking.”
Dev Anand also loved his heroines and treated them like queens. It’s not a wonder that Hema Malini was quoted saying that she wanted to give him the perfect shot because as a director, she revered him. “Nobody could say anything to his heroine on the set. As a matter of fact, all the women on the set were treated like queens. And he in turn, received the best from them,” recalls Jas.
“Dev saab used to wake up before anyone else,” recalls Jas. “I used to see him write his dialogues at 5 am. He climbed hills the quickest and walked faster than any of us. Who would believe he was in his 70s then.”
All his co-stars were quoted saying that he always wanted to learn. “On the sets, if ideas came to him, he would start writing dialogues,” says Jas.
“Discipline was his second name. He never went out with us. He gave his best and expected us to give ours,” Jas laughed as he remembered how the director did not like them going out, adding, “Like a strict father.”
He died in London, where he had gone for the premiere of his last movie Chargesheet. He obviously liked doing things in style, even at this age. I met him at the premiere of Jas’ debut film Main Solah Baras Ki. It was a black-tie event with the Prince of Wales Trust. He was excited and obviously loved his movies and his stars. He had found the heroine in Atlanta. She had no experience of acting at all. He just went up to her and said, “Will you act in my movie?”
His charm was unforgettable, and I remember going home that night understanding why he was known as the “Charming Prince”.
“Women used to come to our sets to visit him. They would bring lunch for the whole set. This was when he was in his 70s, can you imagine what an effect he must have had when he was younger?” says Jas. I totally agreed with him. “The heroines of our movies must have also been in love with him!” he laughed.
“People said he made movies for the world to see, I think he made movies the way he liked to. He always wanted to relive romance like it had been in the past,” Jas says.
Singer Lata Mangeshkar too was quoted saying, “The man’s passion to work and live was infectious.” How can you let go of a legend who continued to remain the youngest star? For most people it came as a shock to hear about the evergreen star’s death.
“The one thing I was deeply inspired by, while spending time with him, was his ‘never say die’ spirit,” Jas remembers sadly.