A Guide to Dev Anand's cinematic journey
There's a photo in Cinema Modern, authored by Sidharth Bhatia, which shows the three Anand brothers: a very young Dev, elder brother Chetan, and the teenager, Vijay. Surrounding them is a large group of people, among them SD Burman, who gave music to many Navketan films; Guru Dutt, who started his career with the company; Manmohan Krishna, Madan Puri and Kishen Dhawan, all esteemed character actors in their own right. It's a telling image, showing a group of people who would go on to carve out a niche for themselves in their respective careers; a young, dynamic bunch on the threshold of something big.
Cinema Modern tells the story of "the house of Navketan" — the banner formed by actor Dev Anand along with his brothers — and charts the production company's journey over a period of 60 years. Bhatia feels the banner never really got its due — primarily because Dev Anand himself was never taken too seriously as an actor — in spite of having backed iconic films and maintaining a good success rate for almost four decades (before the downfall began in the late '80s). Bhatia's claims aren't unfounded. The banner has in its filmography Guide, which is hailed as a classic the world over, and other eminently watchable films like Taxi Driver, Kala Bazar, Hum Dono, Tere Ghar Ke Saamne, Jewel Thief and Hare Rama Hare Krishna.
More importantly, Navketan films have travelled well over time, continuing to regale audiences even as they gain new fans. This can be gauged by the fact that when Hum Dono was recently colourised and re-released fifty years after it was originally screened, it managed to find itself an audience, albeit a small one. This writer attended a screening of the film in a south Mumbai multiplex, where audiences in their mid-20s — probably watching it for the first time — sat silently through the film and gave it an ovation. This, in spite of a lengthy runtime, inherent melodrama and a plot where coincidences abound, things most contemporary audiences scoff at.
Similarly, the author narrates the story of a Jewel Thief screening at Regal cinema in 2009, where the 1,100-seater was jam-packed with audiences cheering through the show.
Cinema Modern stays true to the subject — Navketan — without it becoming a homage to Dev Anand himself. Of course, the actor-filmmaker remains central to the premise, so to speak, but that never overpowers Bhatia's narration of stories related to the making of several Navketan films. The creative tension between Dev and Vijay, the highs and lows in the banner's history (there was a financial strain during the making of Taxi Driver, with the fortunes turning after the film's release and success), Dev Anand's rise to becoming a director, and the banner's eventual decline have all been incorporated. But what you take away from the book is the importance of Navketan films in the context of Indian cinema.
An added bonus is a bunch of pictures that are a delight to browse through (there's one of Dev Anand and Gregory Peck, who Anand was said to emulate, in a rare picture together).
The demise of Dev Anand last week also signalled the end of the banner's journey (unless his son Suniel plans to continue making films, which is unlikely). But barring some lackluster films in the '90s and after, the banner's contribution to Indian cinema is exemplary. In these memorable films, Anand will continue to live on.
g_aniruddha@dnaindia.net(L-R) Navketan's Tere Ghar Ke Saamne is remembered for Vijay Anand's picturisation of the songs, especially 'Dil ka bhanwar kare pukar'; many friends of the Anands, among them SD Burman and Guru Dutt, got together at 41 Pali Hill during their early years in the film industry; Dev on the sets of one of his films
There's a photo in Cinema Modern, authored by Sidharth Bhatia, which shows the three Anand brothers: a very young Dev, elder brother Chetan, and the teenager, Vijay. Surrounding them is a large group of people, among them SD Burman, who gave music to many Navketan films; Guru Dutt, who started his career with the company; Manmohan Krishna, Madan Puri and Kishen Dhawan, all esteemed character actors in their own right. It's a telling image, showing a group of people who would go on to carve out a niche for themselves in their respective careers; a young, dynamic bunch on the threshold of something big.
Cinema Modern tells the story of "the house of Navketan" — the banner formed by actor Dev Anand along with his brothers — and charts the production company's journey over a period of 60 years. Bhatia feels the banner never really got its due — primarily because Dev Anand himself was never taken too seriously as an actor — in spite of having backed iconic films and maintaining a good success rate for almost four decades (before the downfall began in the late '80s). Bhatia's claims aren't unfounded. The banner has in its filmography Guide, which is hailed as a classic the world over, and other eminently watchable films like Taxi Driver, Kala Bazar, Hum Dono, Tere Ghar Ke Saamne, Jewel Thief and Hare Rama Hare Krishna.
More importantly, Navketan films have travelled well over time, continuing to regale audiences even as they gain new fans. This can be gauged by the fact that when Hum Dono was recently colourised and re-released fifty years after it was originally screened, it managed to find itself an audience, albeit a small one. This writer attended a screening of the film in a south Mumbai multiplex, where audiences in their mid-20s — probably watching it for the first time — sat silently through the film and gave it an ovation. This, in spite of a lengthy runtime, inherent melodrama and a plot where coincidences abound, things most contemporary audiences scoff at.
Similarly, the author narrates the story of a Jewel Thief screening at Regal cinema in 2009, where the 1,100-seater was jam-packed with audiences cheering through the show.
Cinema Modern stays true to the subject — Navketan — without it becoming a homage to Dev Anand himself. Of course, the actor-filmmaker remains central to the premise, so to speak, but that never overpowers Bhatia's narration of stories related to the making of several Navketan films. The creative tension between Dev and Vijay, the highs and lows in the banner's history (there was a financial strain during the making of Taxi Driver, with the fortunes turning after the film's release and success), Dev Anand's rise to becoming a director, and the banner's eventual decline have all been incorporated. But what you take away from the book is the importance of Navketan films in the context of Indian cinema.
An added bonus is a bunch of pictures that are a delight to browse through (there's one of Dev Anand and Gregory Peck, who Anand was said to emulate, in a rare picture together).
The demise of Dev Anand last week also signalled the end of the banner's journey (unless his son Suniel plans to continue making films, which is unlikely). But barring some lackluster films in the '90s and after, the banner's contribution to Indian cinema is exemplary. In these memorable films, Anand will continue to live on.
g_aniruddha@dnaindia.net(L-R) Navketan's Tere Ghar Ke Saamne is remembered for Vijay Anand's picturisation of the songs, especially 'Dil ka bhanwar kare pukar'; many friends of the Anands, among them SD Burman and Guru Dutt, got together at 41 Pali Hill during their early years in the film industry; Dev on the sets of one of his films
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