In what can be considered a record of sorts, yesteryear actor Dev Anand’s biography is selling like hot cakes, with 30,000 copies already sold. His autobiography, Romancing With Life, has beaten the sales of Shah Rukh Khan’s biography Still Reading Khan written by Mushtaq Khan which has found 20,000 buyers so far. South superstar Rajinikanth’s popularity too just saw 10,000 copies of his biography being picked up the shelves, even as a second edition is in the pipeline.

Dev Anand is amongst the most distinguished actors of the Indian film industry. At the time when his stardom was at its pinnacle, Dev Anand was considered the most suave among his contemporaries. Born on 26 September 1923 at Gurdaspur in undivided Punjab, Dev Anand who was originally called Dharam Dev Anand, is the second of three brothers. Elder brother, Chetan Anand was a film director and so was his younger one, Vijay Anand. Dev Anand was also a film producer.

Think Dev Anand and it conjures up memories of the romance, youth, flamboyance, style and class of a bygone era. The evergreen romantic superstar of Bollywood who entertained us with movies like ‘Guide’, ‘Kala Pani’, ‘Jewel Thief’, and ‘Hare Rama Hare Krishna’ never failed to cast his magic spell on the enthralled spectators. He released his memoir titled Romancing with Life to commemorate his 84th birthday.

Romancing with Life oozes the essence of Dev: flamboyance, drama and panache in his inimitable style. In his memoir, Dev takes you through the journey of his life in classic filmi style, starting from his early days of struggle in Bollywood, to his relationship with his siblings, his crazy fans, his association with directors, actors and of course his heroines.

Legendary actor Dev Anand , who’s amazing acting enthralled the viewers over half-a-century, has come in praise for “rejecting a role”, which later kickstarted the career of mega superstar Amitabh Bachchan.

Veteran actress Jaya Bachchan publicly thanked Dev Anand in London Sunday night for turning down the lead role in Prakash Mehra ’s film Zanjeer 25 years ago, which was then offered to a struggling Amitabh Bachchan, her husband.

The movie went on to make history at the box office, making Amitabh a star with a popular title “angry young man.”

Jaya was launching the autobiography of Dev Anand titled ‘Romancing With Life’ at the Nehru Centre where the ‘evergreen actor’ was complimented by several speakers.

But Jaya, who played the lead female role in the 1973 film, was in a reminiscent mood and thanked Dev Anand “heartily”, for “you gave up Zanjeer”.

Eighty-four year-old Dev Anand, then a leading actor admitted: “Zanjeer was offered to me.”

The hero in Zanjeer typified the raw seething, anger of the youth of the time while also providing, for the first time, some cathartic relief.

According to Prakash Mehra if Zanjeer scored, it was because of the suppressed rage portrayed by the protagonist, played by Amitabh, who was preparing to pack up his bags and return to his native Allahabad if the film failed.

Speaking on the occasion, Monika Kapil Mohta, Director of Nehru Centre described Dev Anand as a “great Indian who has made outstanding contribution to the Indian film industry. He is one of the greatest legends of our time.”

Among the 250 special invitees present at the launch were Lord Navnit Dholakia, Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords, Lord Karan Billimoria, Co-Chairman of the India-UK Network and G P Hinduja, President of the Hinduja Group.
Sources : http://www.apunkachoice.com/

Evergreen, debonair, urbane and classy are words which have described Devdutta Pishorimal Anand or simply Dev Anand aptly during parts of his six-decade film career and often throughout.
Be it at the beginning of his career, the zenith or what some would call, though the man himself vehemently denies, the fag end, the octogenarian Bollywood legend has staunchly refused to look back.
But that was till now.This self-styled torchbearer of the future has now decided to chronicle his life and times and to a large extent that of Bollywood in an autobiography, however, without pausing for a breath.

Romancing with Life oozes the essence of Dev: flamboyance, drama and panache in his inimitable style. In his memoir, Dev takes you through the journey of his life in classic filmi style, starting from his early days of struggle in Bollywood, to his relationship with his siblings, his crazy fans, his association with directors, actors and of course his heroines.
Dev Anand is something of a Bollywood institution.  In Romancing with Life, the first-ever full-fledged memoir by a leading Bollywood star, he tells his remarkable life story—no less dramatic and gripping than any of his films—like only he can. Here are tales from Dev’s youth in 1930s Gurdaspur and Lahore; his years of struggle in 1940s Bombay; his friendship with Guru Dutt and his doomed romance with Suraiya; his marriage to co-star Kalpana Kartik; his relationships with his brothers Chetan—who brought him to Bombay—and Vijay Anand—who directed him in hit after hit, with S.D. and R.D. Burman, who provided the memorable music for his films, with his compatriots Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor, to both of whom he was very close, and with his heroines, from Geeta Bali, Madhubala, Meena Kumari, Nutan, Vyjayanthimala, Mumtaz and Hema Malini to Waheeda Rehman, Zeenat Aman and Tina Munim, all of whom he launched.

Romancing with Life is a fine account of a superstar who has lived on his own terms and conditions. Yes, it has several superfluous elements in it, but still one can’t ignore the intricacies of a Great Star who continues to look forward to future with a childlike intensity. It’s worth being an attraction in your book shelf.