Romancing with Life

I reproduce below my review of evergreen Dev Anand's autobiography, "Romancing with Life."

Dev Anand is more than a living legend. He is a living inspiration for millions of his fans, including me. With his autobiography, he has come closest to his fans. It is a nostalgic journey down the memory lane. I could not put it down until the narration entered 80’s – a good 75% of the book (438 Pages). The book comes with a free DVD of a short interview and selected songs from his movies.

Dev has written this book in cinematic style. His leaving for Bombay is filled with flash-backs of his childhood and adolescent days in Gurdaspur and Government College, Lahore: Dev Dharam (DD) becoming Dev Anand, first crush for a girl, love for good books, etc.

Dev describes his struggle in Bombay in such graphic details that you almost feel like living that period with him. The book is filled with many interesting anecdotes such as: selling his precious collection of old stamps for mere Rs. 30 in front of VT station to fulfil pangs of hunger; meeting Ashok Kumar who gave him his first film (Hum Ek Hain), recent chance meeting with the grand-daughter of a girl who managed to catch the cap which he had thrown at the crowd on the premier of his film, Baazi in1951, making promise to Guru Dutt that he would let him direct his first movie, etc. His first job at Censorship department of the British Government may have given him millions of story ideas.

He is known to have launched countless new girls, many of whom went on to become stars in later years. This book tells readers his romantic associations with them. Just like his films, the entire focus of the book is upon Dev. This perhaps is the flip side. I wish he had talked more about his contemporaries. He is almost silent about his wife Mona (Kalpana Kartik) after marriage.

Notwithstanding a few short-comings, it is a beautiful bouquet of interesting incidents, inspiring thoughts and a shining example of ever vibrating energy.