Legendary actor, late Dev Anand’s death anniversary was observed last week. But have we paid him a deserving tribute, especially as far as his iconic songs are concerned? Let us take a good look at his oeuvre. When Dev Anand sang Yeh dil na hota bechara qadam na hotey awara to khubsoorat koi apna humsafar hota, little did we know that there was a story behind this buoyant tune by Sachin Dev Burman. Originally, the tune was meant to be the title song in Guru Dutt’s Baharen Phir Bhi Ayengi.
When, for some reason, Burman Dada couldn’t do the film, he saved the tune for a later time. Who would have thought that the song with the vibrant visuals of Dev Anand with a fishing rod, stumbling in front of Tanuja and her friends’ car in Jewel Thief, would become a roaring hit? Evergreen star, evergreen music. Dev Anand has always been synonymous with tunes that have withstood the test of time.
His unerring ear for music has never let him down. From his first home production Afsar, which launched Dev Anand’s Naveketan banner, to Censor, which concluded this long and breathtaking journey of a star, actor, filmmaker and musician named Dev Anand, songs and music were, and continue to be an integral part of Dev Anand’s image as the jaunty boy next door who was as urban as who was suave.
The music in the films of Dev Anand was always young and animated. Even today, when we hear Kishore Kumar doing Jeevan ke safar mein rahi milte hain bichad jaane ko, we are left with a feeling of being in the midst of a journey that has no beginning or end. Dev Anand’s songs are often about the restlessness of young hearts. Whether it’s Yeh raat yeh chandni phir kahan sun ja dil ki dastaan in Jaal, Jayen to jayen kahan in Taxi Driver, or Hum hain rahi pyar ke humse kuch na boliye in Nau Do Gyarah—these are ‘road songs’ long before this genre of popular music found currency in the American and European charts.
Born in Gurdaspur in Punjab, Dev Anand’s real name was Devdutt Pishorimal Anand. He came to Mumbai at the age of 20 to join his brother Chetan Anand in the cinema. Dev’s first film as an actor was Hum Ek Hain in 1946. It was the original Amar Akbar Anthony about three children who are brought up under differing religious beliefs. The film, directed by Raj Kumar Santoshi’s father, P. L. Santoshi, had Husnlal-Bhagatram’s music and Guru Dutt’s choreography.f the clothes make the man, then Kishore Kumar’s songs dressed up Dev Anand’s personality with magical finesse.
We can’t imagine Dukhi man mere sun mera kehna or Jeevan ke safar mein rahi being sung for Dev Anand by any other singer but the inimitable Kishore. But a lot of the superstar’s songs were also sung by the other singing behemoths, Mohd Rafi and Hemant Kumar. These songs were not just an extension of his personality. They were the liberating force which released the romantic within. But the romantic always remained a loner at heart.
A majority of Dev Anand’s songs are about being alone in a crowd, about loving and yet remaining privately marooned in love, which, somewhere and somehow, even excluded the person whom the singer expressed love to. What sets the songs of Dev Anand apart from others? That’s easy to answer. In one word, it’s their timelessness. 64 years ago, Dev Anand sang Main zindagi ka saath nibhata chala gaya har fiqr ko dhuen mein udata chala gaya. Today, the song remains as richly relevant as a signature tune for the young and on-the-go Indian as it was back then.
THE WRITER IS A VETERAN FILM JOURNALIST AND COLUMNIST.