Effervescent Dev Saab at 37th IFFI, Goa.

He came, he spoke, and he conquered every heart and mind in the Black Box, the IFFI’s Press Conference room at Kala Academy, Panaji, Goa.
 

The evergreen Dev Anand, ever enthusiastic, talkative and forthright, sauntered into the cold and black-walled room like a warm, friendly, and energising breeze. The trademark scarf around his neck added a special colour and character to the proceedings.

One has attended the press conferences of Big B and others in the past. It is their star persona and aura that works for them. They flaunt it around. They tend to look down at media persons. Dev Saab’s press meet is different. It is always so enjoyable, so moving, and so thought-provoking. Dev Saab does not fend off and laugh away your questions. He answers them enthusiastically and engagingly. He loves connecting and communicating with people. He treats you as his equal. He does not carry the burden of super-stardom and status over his shoulders while talking to you.

He is truly great. None has thrust greatness on him. He speaks freely. He genuinely searches for answers within himself. He respects you and when he says he loves you he means it. If he blows kisses in the air, he really feels like doing it. It is never an empty gesture and a well-practised etiquette. When he says he is late for the press conference due to heavy traffic, you know it is not a false excuse. He is one of those genuine human beings, and a rare gem.
 

 He is incomparable. He is lovable. The media men stood around the great man, entranced, enthralled, watching him talk. Surprisingly, no stupid questions were asked. It must have been really difficult for TV cameramen to switch off their cameras. It seemed none wanted the press conference to be over. You could forget about everything else at the IFFI and sit there and go on listening to Dev Saab and his experiences. He had no qualms about admitting his foibles and follies. Every word he spoke came more from his heart and less from his head.
 

He did not beat about the bush while answering questions of the media men. Interestingly, none of us wanted to embarrass him with uncomfortable queries about his recent films. The usual cynicism was missing. You don’t want to kill the enthusiasm of a child. It is the worst thing anyone can do. Dev Saab is like an eighty-three-year-old child who still finds the world around him  wonderful and full of amazing experiences and ideas. He falls and rises and then falls, but keeps going, taking everything in his stride, successes and failures, bouquets and brickbats. At the age of 83, people turn into all-knowing hardheaded cynics of a hardened variety. Dev Saab is neither hard headed nor hardened. The child in him is ever alive and kicking and it shows through in the twinkling of his eyes.

Someone asked if he could be reached easily. He said he had always been accessible. He challenged the questioner to test and try him out on that.

He said his autobiography would soon be out. It will be an important event. I am already looking forward to having a peep at it, like we looked forward to watching his films once upon a time. These days everyone is writing biographies in Bollywood, from lyric writers to the badshahs of cinema and the super stars. One does not even feel like looking at these well-produced oversized tomes that match the bloated egos of their subjects. But Dev Anand’s biography will be worth its weight in gold, thicker the better. It should be like his films of the yore. You never get tired of watching them.

Hats off to a living legend.

RKS

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