Meeting Dev Anand in person is an enriching experience. Despite being 84, the man exudes such youthful energy that it makes one feel old in front of him.
The “Evergreen Star'' was in Dubai during the weekend to promote his autobiography, Romancing With Life.
As part of the tour, the India Club, Dubai, with Cinema Sangeet.com and Sureeli Yaaden, hosted a Q&A session One on One Flashback where the star fielded questions from Dr Mandar V. Bichu, a Sharjah-based paediatrician and film and music critic.
For the audience, the event was a trip down Bollywood's memory lane as Dev enthralled his fans with anecdotes from the pages of Indian cinema.
And when XPRESS caught up with him, he still had a lot more to say.
“Both Shah Rukh and Aamir Khan are particularly good actors,'' said Dev Anand when asked about the current crop of heroes.
Known to have an eye for beauties, some of whom, like Zeenat Aman and Tina Munim, he has introduced through his movies and helped become stars, Dev was quite comfortable when it came to talking about women.
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Pretty women
“All the current lot of heroines are beautiful. It will be total injustice if I single out any one as my favourite. They are all so good.
“You have beautiful girls and not so pretty ones, but that does not make them less beautiful. I believe real beauty lies in one's personality, not in having just a pretty face,'' he said.
What about his affairs with ‘beautiful' actresses during his heyday?
“Everybody has girlfriends. You know it's that age. I am a romantic at heart even today. Romance or love can be interpreted in different ways. There's nothing wrong with that,'' said Dev.
Giving a glimpse of his autobiography, he said he has bared all in the book – from his early beginnings in Lahore to his torrid affair with actress Suraiya to his rapport with his peers as well as his relationship with his filmmaker brothers Chetan and Vijay.
When asked about him being imitated on screen, albeit in a comic manner by Kishore Bhanushali aka Duplicate Dev Anand, he said: “Well, if the man can make a living out of doing a parody of me, then it's good for him. I have no objections at all.''
Impressed by Dubai
This was Dev's first visit to Dubai and he was mighty impressed. “I've been all around the world, but I really don't know how I missed out on so much by not coming to this amazing place earlier,'' he said.
Dev Anand was accompanied by his son Suneil, who debuted in his father's movie Anand Aur Anand in 1984.
