The Evergreen romantic hero of Bollywood Dev Anand is no more. He died at the age of 88, leaving behind a legacy of being one of the most popular and charismatic film personalities of the country. His trademark swagger and shaking the head was a delight for mimicry artistes. Apart from acting, Dev also produced and directed many hit movies. From the 40s to 70s Dev’s films charmed us, but unfortunately from the late 70s onwards Dev’s films lost its charm and started flopping. But he kept on making movies and acting even till recently.
If Dev Anand is remembered for being a romantic hero, it is the music of his movies that gets the credit. Dev associated with all the great musicians, but his association with the Burmans, father and son is immemorable. This is my tribute to the great Devsaab by remembering the wonderful music from his movies.
It is difficult to select a starting point. But I would like to start from the 1952 movie Jaal where Dev’s mainstay S D Burman (Dada) composed the music. The memorable duet "Yeh Raat yeh Chaandni phir kahan sunja dil ki dastaan" sung by Lata Mangeshkar and Hemant Kumar comes to mind. This movie was also the second movie of Dev’s strong association with another genius Guru Dutt.
Patita in 1953 saw Shankar Jaikishan composing for a Dev movie with again Lata and Hemant singing the popular duet "Yaad kiya dil ne kaha ho tum".
Taxi Driver in 1954 saw Dev working with Kalpana Kartik whom he married later, once his love for Surayya was truly lost. Here it was Talat Mahmood who sand the unforgettable "Jayen to Jayen Kahan". SD Burman was by this time established as the inhouse composer for Dev’s Navketan banner by now.
Munimji in 1954 saw Kishore Kumar establish himself as the voice of Dev Anand with the hit song "Jeevan Ke Safar Me Rahi"
1955 House No. 44 and Hemant Kumar have two hit songs "Chup hain Dharti Chup hain Chandsitare" and "Teri Duniya Me Jeene Se"
1955 saw yet another musical hit Funtoosh with a Kishore Kumar philosophic number "Dukhi Man mera sun mera kehna". For the first time SD used his son RD’s tune for the song "Ae Mere Topi "
One of the biggest musical hits of Dev came in the 1956 Guru Dutt movie CID. The maverick OP Nayyar created one of his best musical scores. The movie had amazing hit songs - the Rafi-Geeta dutt duet "Ankhon hi ankhon mein ishaara hain", "Leke pehla pehla pyaar" (Rafi, Shamshad, Asha) and the iconic Rafi-Geeta duet "Ae Dil hain mushkil....yeh hai bombay meri jaan".
Paying Guest in 1957 saw some great songs. Kishore’s "Mana Janab Ne Pukara Nahin", Lata’s "Chand phir Nikla" and the Kishore-Asha duets "Oh Nigahen Mastana" and "Chod do aanchal".
Nau Do Gyarah in 1957 had hit songs like Kishore’s "Hum hain Rahi pyar ke" and the naughty Asha-Kishore duet "Aankhon me kya ji woh pehla badal"
1958 Solvah Saal had one of the biggest hit songs Hemant Kumar’s "Hai Apna Dil To Awara" picturised on Dev. All the above had music by Dada Burman.
SD Burman’s songs in Kaal Paani in 1958 had Rafi as the lead singer with the soulful "Hum Bekhudi Me Tumko pukare" and a duet with Asha "Acchaji main hari chalo maan jao na"
1960 and Kalabaazar saw SD using Rafi again as the anchor. Great songs like the Rafi solo "Khoya khoya chand" and the Rafi-Geeta duet "Rimjhim ke tarane leke aie barsat".
1961 Dev worked with Nasir Hussain and Shankar-Jaikishan for "Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota Hain". The title song “Jiya o jiya o kuch bol do…jab pyar kisi se hota hain”.and the Lata-Rafi duets “Uff umma” and “Sau saal pehle” were the highlights.
1962 saw one of Dev’s great hits “Hum Dono”. Dev used Dada’s assistant Jaidev as the composer. And he came out with hit songs like Rafi’s “Main Zindagi ka saath nibhata chala gaya”, Lata’s “Allah tero naam”, Rafi’s “Kabhi Khud Pe Kabhi halat pe rona aaya” and Asha-Rafi “Abhi na jao chod kar”
SD was back in Tere Ghar Ke Saamne in 1963 which saw hit songs like Rafi’s “Dil ka bhanwar kare pukar” and “Tu kahan yeh bata” and the title song by Lata and Rafi.
In 1965 the SD-Dev Teen Devian had great music with songs like Rafi’s “Aise To Na Dekho” and my favourite songs the Kishore-Asha duet “Arre yaar meri tum bhi ho haseen” and the Lata-Kishore duet “Likha Hai Tere Ankhon Me”
1965 also saw the greatest hit of Navketan Guide. SD Burman excelled in the music dept. with Rafi’s great solos “Tere Mere Sapne Ab Ek Rang hain”, “Kya se kya ho gaya” and “Din Dhal jaye”. Lata’s great duets “Piya Tose Naina Lage Re”, “Saiyaan Beiman” and the legendary “Aaj phir Jeene ki Tamanna”. The Kishore-Lata memorable duet “Gaata Rahe Mera Dil” and the two songs by Dada himself “Allah meghde” and “Waha kaun hain tera musafir” were the other noted songs in this classic movie.
2 years later, SD-Dev combine came out another great hit Jewel Thief. Kishore’s solo “Yeh Dil Na Hota Bechara”, Lata-Rafi’s “Dil Pukare Aa re” and the Lata classic “Hothon Pe Aisi Baat” were the highlights of this movie.
1970 saw the release of Prem Pujari with Kishore ruling the roost with “Phoolon Ke Rang Se” and “Shokiyon me Gohola jaye” with Lata.
1970 also had a Dev film “Johny Mera Naam” with music by Kalyanji-Anandji with Kishore’s hit songs like “Pal Bhar Ke Liye”, “Nafrat Karne Walon” and “O Mere Raja”
Gambler in 1971 had Kishore hit songs like “Churi Nahin Mera Dil Hain” and “Dil Aaj Shair Hain”
1971 saw Dev Anand coming out with Hare Rama Hare Krishna which became a cult movie. When Dev broached the idea of the movie with Dada, he was uncomfortable with the concept and thus Dev decided to use RD Burman’s music for the movie. RD had been involved in previous movies as Dada’s assistant, but this was his first movie in the Navketan banner. And he came out with amazing music with Asha’s “Dum Maro Dum” going down in history. Other great hits from the movie included: Lata-Kishore duets “Kanchi Re Kanchi Re”, the beautiful “Phoolon Ka Taron Ka” and the Asha-Usha Uthup title song “I Love you”. While this movie helped to establish Pancham’s position as the numero uno of the music industry, it also marked the beginning of the end of the musical journey of Navketan and Dev.
In my view, Heera Panna in 1973 was the last musical hit of Dev with the title Lata-Kishore duet “Panna Ki Tamanna”. After this, it was all downhill.
The movies after 1973 neither did well nor had the kind of music seen in the earlier years. Yes RD and Rajesh Roshan did come out with songs like “Ruk Jana O Jana” and “Sa Re Ga Ma Pa“, but these were more of exceptions.
The death of SD Burman created a big void which others like RD, Rajesh Roshan, Laxmi-Pyare could not fill. Dev continued to make movies till 2011, but none of them had the musical charm or class of the movies of the 50s, 60s. Incidentally, the first three movies he directed Prem Pujari, Hare Rama and Heera Panna did well, but the rest were average.
Whatever it may be, there is no denying that Dev Anand was a legendary personality in Bollywood whose contribution to Hindi film music is stupendous.
As we bid farewell to the great legend, lets remember these lines from Prem Pujari:
Haan Itna Madir Itna Madhur Tera Mera Pyar
Lena Hoga Janam Hameh Kayi Kayi Baar