This week I highlight the Lahore connections of Bollywood legend, Dev Anand
(88) who died on 3 December in London. Comments are welcome.
Warm regards,
Ishtiaq
*The writer has a PhD from Stockholm University. He is a Professor Emeritus
of Political Science, Stockholm University. He is also Honorary Senior
Fellow of the Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of
Singapore. **He can be reached at billumian@gmail.com*
*Daily Times, Sunday, 11 December 2011*
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\12\11\story_11-12-2011_pg3_2
*VIEW:* Dev Anand and Lahore *—Ishtiaq Ahmed*
**
*Dev Anand remained devoted to Lahore all his life. He was also an ardent
supporter of India-Pakistan peace and reconciliation. Therefore, he was one
of the most prominent passengers in the bus that brought Indian Prime
Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to Lahore*
The news that matinee hero Dev Anand died in London on December 3 as a
result of cardiac arrest saddened fans all over the world. A very large
number among them are Pakistanis. Dev Anand was born on September 26, 1923,
not in Lahore, but less than 50 miles from it. His ancestral village,
Gharota, was in tehsil (now district) Pathankot, district Gurdaspur, but he
grew up in Gurdaspur where his father maintained a successful practice at
the district courts.
Like many other Punjabi families who wanted to give their children the best
education of those times, his father sent him to Lahore for higher
education. He studied at the Government College. Exposure to Lahore surely
helped polish his personality and thus stood him in good stead all his life.
In his autobiography, Romancing with Life (New Delhi, Viking, 2007), we
learnt that Dev Anand was first smitten with love, unfilled and undeclared,
for a classmate, Usha Chopra. However, he left Lahore in 1943 after
obtaining a BA honours degree in English Literature. He could never return
to Lahore until 1999 as part of a peace delegation, because in mid-August
1947, Lahore had become the capital of the Pakistani Punjab, which was no
longer safe for Hindus and Sikhs.
Dev Anand successfully established his credentials as one of the three most
sought after heroes in the Bombay film industry; the other two being Dilip
Kumar and Raj Kapoor. He was undoubtedly the favourite of college girls.
His films, 'Ziddi', 'Shair', 'Baazi', 'Jaal', 'Aaram', 'Nirala', 'Sazaa',
'Taxi Driver', 'House No 44' and many others continued to be shown in
Lahore cinemas until the curtain was drawn on Indian films in the wake of
the 1965 India-Pakistan War. It was many years later, thanks to video
cassettes and later CDs and DVDS and indeed Indian television channels,
that we got a chance to see him again in his later films such as 'CID',
'Kala Pani', 'Hum Dono', 'Guide' and many others.
In Bombay, the Lahore connection came back into his life in a big way. He
fell in love with the Lahore-born Suraiya. On that occasion Suraiya's
grandmother overruled the match ostensibly on religious grounds — Hindu
boy/Muslim girl — but the weightier consideration must have been the money
Suraiya was bringing home as one of the most sought after heroines of that
time.
Another half Lahore connection became part of his life when he married
Kalpana Kartik (real name Mona Singh), who belonged to a well-known
Christian family of Amritsar, but with many aunts and cousins living in
Lahore.
On Tuesday, December 6, some of us who grew up in the Lahore of the 1950s
and 60s met in Stockholm to mark the sad departure of a man to whom we all
owed some beautiful memories of our own younger days. In those days the
excitement of saving annas and paisas so as to be able to buy the Rs 1.60
ticket was immense. As soon as one set foot on McLeod Road and Abbot Road,
where most Urdu-Hindi and Punjabi pictures were shown, transformation to a
world of dreams began and was consummated by a beautiful mixture of song,
dance, laughter, tragedy, for the next three hours.
My elder brother Mushtaq said, "When we wanted to experience intense drama
and tragedy it was Dilip, when powerful romance and social message were on
our hearts we went to see Raj Kapoor, but when we wanted to be just us —
young, romantic, experimental — then the magic of Dev Anand was
overwhelming." Ahmed Faqih observed, "Dev Anand was the paragon of the
non-conformist young man always willing to defy convention to be different.
He was the precursor of the angry young man, that later Amitabh Bachchan
came to symbolise." No doubt some of the most memorable songs for him were
penned by the arch romantic rebel Sahir Ludhianvi. Waleed Mir informed us
that Kalpana Kartik's aunts and cousins lived on Hearne Road, in the
Krishan Nagar locality, and that the family stayed on in Pakistan.
Dev Anand remained devoted to Lahore all his life. He was also an ardent
supporter of India-Pakistan peace and reconciliation. Therefore, he was one
of the most prominent passengers in the bus that brought Indian Prime
Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to Lahore. The scenes and moments he spent in
Lahore are vividly described in his autobiography. About the visit to
Government College, he says: "I was transported back to my years in Lahore.
I saw my college mates and friends...I saw Hamidullah Khan Burki, standing
out as the best hockey player in college...I saw Usha Chopra in the college
corridor on the first floor, crossing me, books in hand, in a sari that
shimmered with elegance, innocent as ever as I said a very shy hello to
her, to which she blushed...But she wasn't there. And yet, I could hear the
sound of her high-heeled shoes resounding in the empty corridor" (page 368).
Many Ravians (students of Government College) and others turned up at the
college, and someone started playing a song on his flute from his immortal
'Taxi Driver'. They told him that Government College was as much his as
theirs. He describes with great emotion his meeting with Prime Minister
Mian Nawaz Sharif who showered Punjabi hospitality on him and other Indian
guests in a true Lahori manner. Both had studied at the same college, so
that was a special bonding between them.
I was greatly impressed when Nawaz Sharif issued condolences upon learning
about the demise of Dev Anand. He called him a personal friend and a
dedicated champion of India-Pakistan friendship. That was truly a befitting
compliment. I must say I was deeply disappointed that Imran Khan did not
have the courtesy to express some sadness on this occasion. Considering
that Bollywood actors and actresses went out of their way to help him with
donations for his Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital, he should have
made some statement on the departure of a Bollywood legend. I read
somewhere that Dev Anand wanted Imran Khan to play the lead role in one of
his films, so the two must have known each other in some way. I dread Imran
Khan becoming a victim of opportunism and populism that has in the past
ruined so many gifted Pakistanis who enter politics and forfeit their
humanity.
The Lahore and Punjab connections of Bollywood are a theme on which I am
going to write a number of articles in future. In one way, that series has
already begun with this tribute to Dev Anand.
*The writer is a Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Stockholm
University. He is also Honorary Senior Fellow of the Institute of South
Asian Studies, National University of Singapore. He can be reached at
billumian@gmail.com*
*
http://www.scribd.com/doc/61839666/Indo-Pak-Wars-A-Pictorial-History
http://www.scribd.com/doc/22457862/Military-Decision-making-and-leadership
http://www.scribd.com/doc/22455178/Letters-to-Command-and-Staff-College-Quetta-Citadel-Journal
http://www.scribd.com/doc/23150027/Pakistan-Army-through-eyes-of-Pakistani-Generals
http://www.scribd.com/doc/23701412/War-of-Independence-of-1857
0 comments:
Post a Comment