Prem Pujari: My first film as a child. I saw this young handsome charming man with coloured scarf around his neck and singing the song Shokhiyon Mein Ghola Jaye with the beautiful heroine Waheeda Rehman. I just fell in love with his style, thinking who he is and how can I meet him.
Hare Rama Hare Krishna: When I saw the song Dum Maro Dum where a girl was dancing with hippies and smoking, I was mesmerised. Then there comes Dev Anand in his red shirt and looking at this girl trying to recognise her. When the film finished in the theatre, I just
didn’t want to come out. Everyone left the hall and I sat there. That is where my crush started for the film’s heroine, Mumtaz.
Gambler: This film left an impact on me because of Dev Anand wearing check shirts. Till today, I like wearing those kind of shirts. Then the song Choodi Nahin Ye Mera Dil, where he had a black suit with red tie made another major impact on me. I remember thinking to
myself ‘this guy is very lucky’, because he can flirt with as many girls as he wants.
Tere Ghar Ke Samne: I had seen this film on TV at a time when only few people had TV sets in India. So we had to request our friend, who had a TV set in their house, to let us watch the movie. The song Dil Ka Bhanwar was shot in Qutab Minar, so I was very excited to see that because I went there on my school trip.
Swami Dada: My struggle started in Bollywood around the same time. Whenever I passed Juhu beach, there was this hoarding of the film. I had wanted to meet Dev Anand and work with him in this movie, which was being filmed at that time.
Tere Mere Sapne: I had seen this film only because of Dev Anand and my crush on
Mumtaz. I loved the song on the bicycle Ae Maine Kasam Li, which was so beautiful
and touched my heart.
Sachche Ka Bol Bala: I can never forget this film in my life because I met my idol on
its set. It was in Mehboob Studios and the airport set was erected. The shoot was on with Jackie Shroff and Dev Anand, and I was standing in one corner watching, very nervous and excited at the same time. Suddenly, I hear the shout cut. The shot was over. After sometime, Dev Anand looked at me and smiled.
Sau Crore: My first film with him as an actor. It was in Switzerland at the Geneva lake. My first shot was with him. I was very nervous, but he made me feel very comfortable. When the first shot was over, he came to me, hugged me and said you are a good actor. Keep it up.
Gangster: My second film with him as an actor, where he actually introduced me in the film. We shot the film in Belgium, Luxembourg and Mumbai. I really enjoyed working in the movie.
Main Solah Baras Ki: My third film with him as an actor and we both went to look for locations in Scotland. The whole film was shot in the Highlands and Dev Anand loved filming there. We had two actresses, Sabrina from US and Neeru Bajwa from Canada. We had a great time making this movie.
- Vijay Kumar has written the book Dev Saab, which is available to buy now on Amazon worldwide.
