When we wanted to experience intense drama and tragedy it was Dilip Kumar, when powerful romance and social message were in our hearts we went to see Raj Kapoor, but when we wanted to be just us – young, romantic, experimental – then the magic of Dev Anand was overwhelming. This sums up the generations who still remember Dev Anand through his songs everyday. I belong to that generation of the 1970s, who, as a teen was floored by his charm. I don't need his birth anniversary today to remember my idol.

I had interviewed  Dev Anand twice, first in April 1994 in Mumbai and then in February1999 in Lahore, where he was part of the delegation of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s historic bus ride to Pakistan. While the first interview was focused on him and his films, the second one was about his early days in Lahore.

The day after the official ceremony of signing of the Lahore Declaration, I took Dev Anand to his old college (he had graciously agreed to my request that I wanted to “shoot” him there) – the Government College in Lahore to capture his down memory lane.  It was Sunday and the college was closed. But soon the news spread that Dev Anand, the icon and ex Ravians (as the students of the college are known) was in the college and within minutes Dev Anand was surrounded by Ravians. It seemed he was back in the time. But while  he appeared nostalgic, his mind was drifting elsewhere as well.

“You know, Nawaz Sharif (then the Prime Minister of Pakistan) asked me to make a film here. I told him why not, I will love to, Sharif Saheb is also from this college,” he told me. My first crush was here, in this college. So many fond memories, it seems that I am back in my old days,” he added.

“This is your first visit to Lahore ?” I asked him.

“Haan, I left Lahore in 1943,  with only 30 rupees in my pocket and this is 1999, I am back as part of the peace delegation of the Prime Minister. Sab kuch badal gaya hai.” Dev Anand later told me that he was writing a book also but asked me not to mention  it in my report.

I received my personal copy of the book titled “Romancing with life “ – very appropriate title describing  typical of the iconic evergreen star of the Hindi films. I was more curious to know what Dev Anand had written about his visit to Lahore.

“The following day, a news channel insisted on taking me to my old college for an interview saying that it would make a great story. Standing in front of my college, I was transported back to my years in Lahore. I saw my college mates and friends…I saw Hamidullah Khan Burki, standing out as the best hockey player in college…I saw Usha Chopra (his first crush) in the college corridor on the first floor, crossing me, books in hand, in a sari that shimmered with elegance, innocent as ever as I said a very shy hello to her, to which she blushed…But she wasn’t there. And yet, I could hear the sound of her high-heeled shoes resounding in the empty corridor” (page 367- 368).

Well that was Dev Anand.

No actor has more swag than Dev Anand. They say he was inspired by Gregory Peck. I am a fan of both. I think it may have been the other way around, but that’s the fan in me. The fan who lit his first cigarette with “Main Zindagi Ka Saath Nibhata Chala Gaya…”, sang “Khoya Khoya Chand…” but failed to woo anyone. And the fan who played “Allah Tero Naam Ishwar Tero Naam…” while covering the Mumbai riots in 1993. I made my young daughters watch Dev Anand’s black and white movies – Tere Ghar Ke Samne, Teen Deviyan and many more and soon had two more cheerleaders for Dev Anand at home.

But for all his style, Dev Anand also gave us a most profound philosophy : “Zindagi ek khayal hai jaise ki maut bhi ek khayal hai, na sukh hai na dukh hai; na deen hai na duniya, na insaan na bhagwan …sirf main,  main,  main..You have to detach yourself to go further…”.

After six years of his demise, I transcribed his video interviews which were published in 2017 on his birth anniversary in The Quint: Dev Anand On Life, Movies, Music and His Love for Suraiya