QUOTE MARTIAL
MAKING WAVES
REVIEWS
SHORT TAKES
SOUTHERN SPICE
ROUGH CUTS
MEMORIES
ARCHIVES
MOVIES CHAT

'My mind is always working'

Debika Chaudhuri

The forever young-at-heart hero, Dev Anand, now wishes to write a book, make yet another film that will be remembered for hundreds of years and leave his mark on the sands of time.

He disclosed this at a free-willing interview a week before his 77th birthday.

Dressed in his hallmark trousers, buttoned-up shirt, jacket and leather shoes, Anand was the epitome of the suave, metropolitan gentleman as he sat busy, recording a song for his latest movie Censor with Sonu Nigam, and Jaspinder Narula.

He spoke candidly on a wide range of topics -- his movies, his transformation from an actor to a director, discord with the Censor Board, politics, sports and his vision of a unified India and Pakistan.

With a perpetual optimism towards life, Anand has retained his 'old world charm' and in his own zestful way, continues to be a 'lady's man. "I don't do anything special, it is just that my mind is always working," he commented when asked about the secret of his youthful vigour. "I sleep very late at night, reading before I do so and wake up early," he added.

As a man who has always portrayed tomorrow today, Anand is excited about his latest movie, Censor. It deals with censorship and is slated to be released in the first quarter of 2000. "It's a satire on the Censor Board, suggesting we must move with the times because culture is an amalgamation of the past, present and future," he stated.

Asked whether he feared cuts by the scissor-friendly Censor Board, he said that whatever happens he will take it, adding that life is not always a bed of roses.

He felt a scene always needs to be justified. "A bedroom scene cannot be effective unless those tender moments between a man and a woman are explicitly depicted nor can the sensuality of a young girl be conveyed without focusing on her heaving breasts. The essence of the scene is lost if such sensuous shots are cut,'' stated Anand.

But, he added, he did not approve of orgy scenes because, even though it is important to have ingredients maintaining the integrity of a movie, the scene should not offend the sensibilities of the audience.

Anand also spoke of his one-time heroine and friend-turned-foe, Asha Parekh. He felt that the Censor Board should be objective and not subjective in its decisions. "The reins of power are in the hands of the IAS officer in charge of the board and she (Asha) probably wants to hold on to the chair or else she would not have used her veto-power in such a manner,'' he said.

His magnetism and romantic charm radiated as he continued to speak while keeping his ears open for the 'mixing' that was on for a catchy Punjabi song.

"Movies are a dynamic force and an artiste is an asset for the director. So as a director, I experience the movements through my imagination while the artiste executes them,'' Anand said, talking about his career as a star and director.

As a director, he creates the thought, elaborates it, gives it shape and eventually projects it. "A thought is projected to the world and then it is either accepted or rejected, but at least it is discussed and not discarded," he continued, adding with a glint in his eyes that when he gives a break to an artiste and a star is born, it is a fantastic feeling.

Speaking on movies past and present, he said that nowadays, there is more of embellishment, probably in keeping with the greater affluence in today's society, while the earlier films concentrated more on story lines. He felt that these add-ons today divert the interest of audience to other aspects of the movies, thus reducing the shelf life of present day cinema.

He also said that one need not be a politician to be a leader, claiming that directing a movie is in itself a form of leadership. Despite a short six-week stint as the president of the National Party Of India -- which he had formed as a mark of revolt against Indira Gandhi's 'emergency period' in the '70s -- he stated that "I do not want to get involved in the dirt of politics today, I am just not cut out for it."

Having spent his college days in Lahore and seen the bloody Partition days, Anand is deeply saddened by the state of affairs today. "India is not what it should have been. Politicians today have an ugly hue on them. In the days of the British Raj, at least the entire nation was integrated. But today, terrorism has seeped into every nook and corner of the nation," he said.

The septuagenarian reiterated the need for a strong leader who would be able to unite India and Pakistan again. "Someone young and dynamic is the need of the day," he added. "It is the same culture, same people," he reminisced. "When I went to Lahore on the bus trip with prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, there was a man who claimed to know every one of the songs which I had picturised and played a few of my choices."

When asked whether Kargil was a shock for him so soon after the bus trip, he said, "I think our leaders were aware of certain disturbances in the borders, but Nawaz Sharief denied it when he was asked about it."

On whether the Indian cricket team made the right decision in not playing Pakistan in the Sahara Cup, he said that the antipathy does occasionally spread onto the fields though he personally felt it should not. If he had to make a choice, Anand stated, then he would have gone ahead and played.

He showed the ink stain on his fore-finger and said that he always voted, even though he was utterly disgusted that the voters will not get to know the results till after six weeks. "This has not happened in the history of this nation, I do not know what the Election Commission thinks it's doing," he said.

An avid reader, Anand claimed he enjoyed being a loner. "I imbibe from the people around me and then I isolate myself so that I can think of portraying my thoughts to the people," he said. "Experience never ends, and I am a child at heart. I have excitement in me and I believe that is the most expensive commodity needed to move ahead."

So, what would Dev Anand do if he were granted one wish? "Why should I be granted, I shall take a wish: I would make the greatest film ever made, beautiful and fascinating, one that shall be viewed from one corner of the world to the other, and shall be remembered for eons," he declared with passion.

And when he gets some time, this multi-talented man would write a book as well -- about himself.

--UNI