Dev & the Dream Girl!

Dev Anand and Hema Malini first acted together in the super blockbuster Johny Mera Naam, the movie remains one of my all-time favourites and we have already done a full feature on it in Throwback Thursday earlier. Of all the Dev-Hema films like Amir Garib, Joshila, Tere Mere Sapne, Chhupa Rustam, Shareef Budmaash, Censor, Jaaneman and Aman Ke Farishtey, Johny Mera Naam is by far the best. I think there is some film Sachhe ka Bol Bala too.

Tere Mere Sapne was a movie before its time and the questions it throws up are very much relevant today for the medical profession and society. The quandary of doctors who fight for survival with their ideals intact versus the funeral pyre of principles to earn money is beautifully portrayed by Dev Anand and other doctors in the movie. The path of the film where moral decline impacts the personal life negatively leading to all-round despair makes one think even today as we see the situation all around us. Doctors wear the mask of a Life-Giver and in real and reel life we expect them to deliver, disregarding the emotional needs of the doctor, who is, after all, a human. Tere Mere Sapne, with Mumtaz as the wife of the idealistic Dr Dev Anand and Hema Malini as the ailing Superstar of the ‘unprincipled but catering to the rich’ Dr Dev, has some beautiful songs, namely Jaise Radha ne mala japi, Haan Maine kasam li…

Chhupa Rustam has all the features of a patriotic potboiler and is a bit confusing as we have a treasure hunt for a Temple of Gold, abductions galore; in fact multiple abductions of the Hema Malini and a mystery to boot. Shot in Himachal, the movie was scenically a treat and so was Hema Maliniabsolutely gorgeous. We have Vijay Anand too in a cameo role and of course, the complete battery of Ajit, Premnath and Prem Chopra, so the villainy is a scream. Dheere se jana khatiyan mein by Kishore Kumar is funny even today, Hum Chhupe Rustom hain is delightfully apt as it leads to Hema’s abduction.

Jaaneman has Hema Malini in a double role whereas, unlike Seeta aur Geeta, she plays a negative/positive role. Dev Anand plays a taxi driver and he wore the uniform the entire film, except the climax and believe me, Dev Anand did bring his own style to the drab taxi driver uniform. It features a song Allahabad mein paida huyi main which tickled me to no end as I too was born in the holy city of Allahabad now Prayagraj (like crores of others but you understand what I mean).

Amir Garib features Dev Anand playing Robin Hood where he lives a dual life. Meets Hema, both fall in love and then we have another mystery about a rich dad and then a dead dad. None of the songs made much of a mark on me so I am not mentioning them here.Joshila has one of my favourite songs, Kiska rasta dekhe… the movie is a murder and romantic mystery with a lot of twists and turns. We have Hema Malini, Raakhee, Pran, Padma Khanna, Bindu and at the centre of it all Dev Anand, who is very stylish with sunglasses and that debonair style.

Shareef Budmash is again full of twists and turns, imposters with an Indian government’s plan for a new kind of super aircraft thrown in. Aman ke Farishtey has a patriotic plot which includes a police officer, a dancer and a jailbird. Censor is a film that satirises film censorship in India along with Dev Anand Shammi Kapoor, Hema, Rekha and Jackie Shroff. Johny Mera Naam had everything – the plot, the stars, the songs, the music, the villain – perfection personified! Let’s just watch it…again!