‘Dev Anand @ 100’ film festival kicks off with ‘Johny Mera Naam’, ‘Guide’ screenings
‘Dev Anand @ 100’ film festival kicks off with ‘Johny Mera Naam’, ‘Guide’ screenings
Actor Waheeda Rehman, actor Jackie Shroff, filmmaker Sriram Raghavan, and FHF director Shivendra Singh Dungarpur introduced the two titles marking the opening of the festival
PTI
A picture from Film Heritage Foundation’s “Dev Anand @ 100 – Forever Young” film festival’s opening ceremony in Mumbai | Photo Credit: PTI
‘Dev Anand @ 100 – Forever Young’, a film festival celebrating the birth centenary of screen icon Dev Anand, opened on Saturday evening with packed shows of the actor’s popular films Johny Mera Naam and Guide at PVR Juhu in Mumbai.
The two-day event, curated by Film Heritage Foundation (FHF), showcases four of the actor’s movies. The other two films, CID and Jewel Thief was screened on Sunday.
The two title marking the opening of the festival was introduced by Waheeda Rehman, Dev Anand’s co-star in films such as CID and Guide, actor Jackie Shroff, filmmaker Sriram Raghavan, and FHF director Shivendra Singh Dungarpur.
Notedly, Waheeda Rehman recounted of her being introduced to Dev Anand on the sets of CID, the 1956 film which marked her Hindi cinema debut.
She recalled that she felt very lucky that she did her first film CID with Dev Anand. After being introduced, she called addressed him as Dev sahab’, and he said ‘Waheeda, you won’t call me Dev sahab’. Then she said that she is not that ill-mannered, since Dev Saab was elder to her and such a big star. This is her first film and how can she not call him Dev sahab?’ He said, be doesn’t feel comfortable when someone calls him ‘sahab’, and feels like a school teacher. So, he told her to just call him Dev’,” the 85-year-old star said at the event.
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Dev Anand was the “only actor I addressed by first name”, she added.
The actress went on to add that not once did he make her feel that he is such a huge star or older to her in age, but made her feel comfortable and was cooperative. She feels proud to have worked with a legend like Dev Anand. She wished he was here and she was sure up there he must be feeling happy. He has received so much love from us.
She further went on to say that he was, is and will remain evergreen. He was a charming personality, dedicated, punctual and a thorough gentleman.
Waheeda also credited the late actor for her casting in Guide, the 1965 film directed by his brother Vijay Anand. Dev Anand produced and starred in the film.
She continued that it was such a pleasure to have worked with him. He was one of the reasons behind me being (cast) in Guide. He had said ‘No one will play Rosie other than her.
The screening also saw the presence of ttended Vaibhav Anand, son of Vijay Anand, the families of Dev Anand, Chetan Anand, Prem Nath and Jagdish, as well as actors Mink Brar and Divya Dutta.
As per Dungarpur, a filmmaker and archivist, the response turned out to be amazing and the cinema halls were packed in many parts of India. It was so good see such a young crowd come and watch these films.
It was an amazing experience. It’s almost houseful everywhere.
Ahead of the festival, FHF ambassador, megastar Amitabh Bachchan, also took to X to congratulate the not-for-profit organisation for the retrospective.
The festival, held jointly in association with NFDC-NFAI (National Film Development Corporation Of India – National Film Archive of India) and PVR INOX, is taking place across 30 cities and 55 cinema halls all over India.
The restoration of the films for ‘Dev Anand@100 – Forever Young’ was undertaken as part of the National Film Heritage Mission and funded by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
News Edit K.V.Raman
