To be made in English, Dev Anand’s first international project is titled When Heart Beats Are The Same. “It’ll be an intense love story shot in English. There are only two characters father and son. I’ll play the father’s role and for the son’s role I will be sign a big star or a trained actor who is good at English,” said Anand.

This is a beautiful place even when it rains.” He reminisces that eight Bollywood films were shot in Scotland between 2000 and 2003 after he wrote the script for ‘Main Solah Baras Ki’ in the small Scottish town of Pitlochry in 1998.

“I am going to Canada for a month and after coming back, I will soon start working on the script of the remake so it will take some time,”  Devsaab said.

Revealing how the thought of a remake came to his mind, the veteran actor says, “When I was shooting in Nepal my fans over there insisted on it and that’s how the idea came about.”

Dev Anand is currently working on his upcoming project Chargesheet.

Hare Rama Hare Krishna was the directorial debut of Dev Anand. Dev and Zeenat Aman play siblings who are brought up in different countries – Dev in India and Zeenat in Kathmamdu. Zeenat joins the hippie gang and also gets addicted to drugs. Dev, after getting a letter from his father, moved to Kathmandu where he falls in love with Mumtaz. The movie has evergreen numbers like dum maro dum and phoolon ka taroon ka.

The English version had an alternative title, Survival. The idea was to introduce Dev Anand to English-speaking audiences.

Although the Hindi version, co-starring Waheeda Rehman, is considered a Bollywood landmark, the English one has rarely been publicly seen in India, having been withdrawn hastily after its US release spawned indifferent reviews.

The English version was actually the first one that was shot, and it is faithful to the adult theme of the book, which deals with adultery.

After it flopped at the US box-office, Dev Anand decided to remake it in Hindi but watered down the adult content of the original novel. Vijay Anand was so shocked to read the original script, he is said to have twice turned down the offer to direct it before finally relenting.

Dev Anand, who has acted in 125 films and directed 36, has spoken elsewhere of the challenge of making a movie on adultery in 1960s India.

The next pairing of Dev Anand and Guru Dutt was Jaal (1952). Dev played a heartless smuggler who only repents right at the end of the film. It was a finely shaded performance but the film didn’t do too well at the box-office. The partnership came to an end when Guru Dutt decided to act in his own films.
Dev anand went for guru dutt and they cameo ut with baazi in 1951 the film did very well. It took dev anand to a star status.

Dev Anand Express his views about Guru Dutt in an Interview

Our friendship dates back to the Prabhat era..he was assistant director to a very famous director. I had just started as a leading man. I think if I can call anybody in the movie industry as my greatest pal it was Guru Dutt. And we struck a great friendship jaise langotiya yaar kehte hain hum jaise dost the. And we struck a deal over a glass of beer and then he said Dev..if I ever become a director you are my star and I said if I ever form a company and I invite a directory to direct a film you’re going to be THE one.

I was on the sets of Teen Deviyan and I was ghost directing for Amarjeet a friend of ours and I got a news that Guru Dutt is dead. I packed up.. I went straight to his house and I was the first man to see him lying on his bed. There wasn’t anybody in the room. I was the first man to enter the apartment and be near his body. and I saw him and his face was blue slightly. There was a glass of…. there was a blue liquid in a glass next to him and I think. I do not know what happened….it was a very sudden death. and I had met him 5-6 days earlier when he had invited me -come over let’s do a picture together but at that moment a I also realized when I saw that he was looking very frail very feeble…yellow on the face, he had lost his hair. This was not the same Guru Dutt because he had made some very beautiful films…the film that he made Kaagaz Ke Phool was a very brilliant film but it didn’t do well..and he could not take it after that he never directed a picture. so that was the start of his physical downfall. Even his creative downfall. Sad..

Sources : http://dearcinema.com/devanand-interview-1/

Justice V S Malimath, former chief justice of Karnataka and Kerala High Courts, conferred the film icon with ‘Anmol Ratan, Lifetime Achievement Award’ at a function organised by the Vintage Film-Music Lovers’ Association on Saturday.

The actor-auteur, known for his trademark singsong voice and penchant for nodding, also spoke about his future projects.

‘Dev Saab’ said he was in the process of finalising the cast for his Hindi moving

‘Chargesheet’, the filming of which will probabably commence in March.

“I am also planning an English film based on NRIs in London, which will be shot in Europe,” he said.

To a question on making a film on strengthening Indo-Pak ties, Dev Anand, who was born in Gurdaspur in undivided Punjab and studied in Lahore, said “the country is going through a political turmoil after Benazir Bhutto’s assassination. Let it settle. I have’nt thought about it as of now”.

On his message to the youth in Bangalore, he quipped, “they are very smart and intelligent and know how to go about in life. They do not need any message.”

vegetarian and a teetotaller, Anand, who turns 84 this month, says he never feels old because he retains all the elements of youth.

“I’m excited all the time about the things I do. So I feel young. Young people feel excited all the time,” he said. “And what compensates me for my youth is my wisdom, my experience, whatever I have gained from life so far.”

Anand’s autobiography is due out this month. He says the book mentions details even his family does not know.

“I’m getting old and there’s so much to say,” he said about his autobiography titled Romancing with Life.

Anand will tour India with his 465-page book which he will also take to Frankfurt, London, Stockholm, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta and Canada.

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.

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/

He will be given a Lifetime achievement award at the function on January 19, being organised by Ramya Cultural Academy in association with Vinmusiclub, an organisation run with goodwill and support of lovers of vintage music here.

The event will also showcase the contributions of Dev Anand with a music journey, “Gata Rahe Mera Dil” with selected songs and clippings from some of his best films.

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.