“God Meets His Guide” – These were the words that greeted me on Facebook when I woke up today. The accompanying picture was that of Dev Anand with Suhel Seth. My first thought was – “Oh No, Suhel’s playing God now”, but within seconds I realised that this was no joke, we had lost a legend and Suhel, as always, had captured it perfectly.
My initial reaction was to text my condolences to Shekhar Kapur, his nephew and now the flag bearer of this great film making family, and then, I started reminiscing.
My relationship with Dev Sahab (I was born thirty three years after him) pre dates my involvement with films. In fact it probably pre dates my having seen any film. My father, who was a civil servant, belonged to and was born in Gurdaspur District, as was Dev Sahab. In those days, in Mumbai, this was a good enough reason for people to become friends.
To us kids, he was a name to boast of in school and a means to attend that most hallowed of ceremonies, a film shooting. I probably saw him on the studio floor way before I saw him on screen. The film was “Tere Ghar Ke Saamne” and he was playing a comedy scene with Harindranath Chattopadhyaya. The year was 1962 or 1963, I was six years old, but I still remember the scene and the fact that everything in the scene, even the two houses were fake — flat cut outs.
Stars were far more accessible then and possibly a lot less busy, and I have several memories of music sessions with Madan Mohan and Dev Sahab at our house, and our family album is peppered with their pictures.
