For evergreen hero Dev Anand, life is an endless succession of fascinating tomorrows.
Dev Anand became a name to reckon with in the early 1950s when the startling socio-economic changes in the nation after independence gave rise to hero-oriented films.
During the period, he formed popular star teams along with Suraiya, Geeta Bali and Waheeda Rehman.
The actor, along with Ashok Kumar, Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor, held the fortunes of Bollywood for at least two decades. All of them left their own imprint on the history of Indian cinema.
He was the maker of India's first Indo-American co-production Guide in English and Hindi.
His Hum Dono, which was an entry at the Berlin international film festival, was well received there.
Described in Bollywood circles as an eternal optimist, Dev Anand after an endless series of flops in the last few years, still dreams of making one more superhit.
The Hindi version of Guide, which was directed by his brother Vijay Anand with music by S D Burman, became a big box office success and saved him from financial disaster as the English version had flopped.
The Hindi version was the Indian entry in the foreign language category in Hollywood academy awards in 1965.
The sophisticated and one of the best-dressed actors of today was a shy and reserved boy, who was never properly dressed.
He was given to singing passages from the holy book and chanting the 'slokas'. The only habit of his childhood days, which Dev Anand remembers to this day, was his love for marbles. He had literally hundreds and hundreds of them in all colours and sizes and was quite adept at playing games with them.
Dev Anand, who went to college in Dharmsala in Kangra district, was especially fond of climbing snow-clad peaks in winter.
He graduated in arts in 1942 from the Government College in Lahore, which has given Balraj Sahani, Chetan Anand, B R Chopra and Kushwant Singh to the world of Indian film and literature.
After studies, Dev Anand went to Delhi to work as a clerk for two months before he came to Bombay in search of a break in the film world.
In Bombay, he stayed with his elder brother late Chetan Anand and took up a job in the wartime British censor office where he worked as a clerk for two and a half years. All through this period, he visited the studios and film offices of the city seeking the break, which nobody was keen to give him.
Noted director-writer K A Abbas recognised the talent in Dev Anand and the surging enthusiasm, which was later to become the hallmark of his personality. Abbas encouraged him to get whatever roles he could get in the theatre.
Dev Anand played the lead role in the play Zubeida, directed by Balraj Sahani and staged by Indian Peoples' Theatre Association.
Subsequently, Dev Anand signed on with Prabhat studios on a three-year contract at Rs 400 a month to star in Hum Ek Hain. He later acted in Aage Bado, Hum Bhi Insaan Hain and Vidya, none of which set the box office on fire.
In Hum Bhi Insaan Hain, Dev Anand had Ramola as his leading lady and in Vidya he teamed up with singing star Suraiya for the first time. Bombay Talkies film Ziddi was the launching pad of a meteoric star's career.
In this film Dev Anand got a princely contract of Rs 20,000, stealing the hero's role from Ashok Kumar in the bargain.
From that time onwards, Dev Anand has never looked back.
"I have had my own share of struggle and humiliation and disillusionment but I have never allowed that to sour or embitter me," he says and may be that is the secret of Dev Anand's perpetual youth.
Dev Anand, in his life, in his work and in the circumstances of his career, has always liked to be in full control. The debonair behaviour, the nonchalant way of chasing the heroine round the tree and jumping around in romantic song sequences became stock-in-trade, the badge of the ideal dream boy and his style throughout his early years as a star.
Dev Anand has starred opposite all the top leading ladies of the 40s and 50s including Suraiya, Kamini Kaushal, Nargis, Meena Kumari, Madhubala, Nimi, Geeta Bali, Nalini Jayawant and Nutan.
The Suraiya-Dev Anand romantic team emerged as the most sought after by producers and distributors, a team whose charisma on screen could only emanate from a deep inner warmth. They starred in seven films together and almost all of them were successful at the box office.
The filmy romance reached its culmination when Dev pressed her to marry him and presented her with a diamond ring. But the ring was destined to land up at the bottom of the ocean bed off Marine Drive when Suriaya's grandmother took it off from her finger and flung it into the sea.
After Suraiya went out of his life, Dev met the girl who would become his wife. Her name was Mona Singha and she became his heroine in Baazi directed by Guru Dutt.
Mona was renamed as Kalpana Kartik for the screen. Their marriage took place on January 3, 1954, on the sets of Taxi Driver at Model Studios.
The pair worked in Andhiyaan, Hum Safar and Taxi Driver. After her marriage Kalpana worked in two more films with her husband, House Number 44 and Nau Do Gyarah.
In 26 years from 1950 to 1976 Dev Anand made 22 films under the Nav Ketan banner. His other notable films were Jewel Thief, Heera Panna, Prem Pujari, Hare Rama Hare Krishna, Johnny Mera Naam, Sharreef Badmash, Tere Mere Sapne and Chupa Rustum, Ishq Ishq Ishq and Janeman.
Dev has hobnobbed with kings and queens. The royal family of Nepal invited him as a personal and privileged guest to attend a wedding in the royal family few years ago in Kathmandu.
"I believe that the making of a motion picture should be brought as close as possible to the making of a newspaper. How can anybody live with the same old idea for five years? No. The world is moving so fast today that you either move it or get left behind," he says.
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