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Birthday Special: Dev Anand's Top 10 Movies

Had Dev Anand been alive, he would have been 90 today, September 26.

The flamboyant star, who passed away in 2011, has given us many many movies to remember him by.

We list his Top 10 movies.

Bambai Ka Babu (1960)

An absolute knockout of a movie directed by the very gifted director Raj Khosla. 

Bambai Ka Babu portrayed a subtly incestuous relationship.

Dev Anand, a fugitive on the run, pretends to be the son of a rich wealthy couple and falls in love with their daughter (Suchitra Sen).

In the end, Dev Anand had to send off the woman he loves to her sasural as his sister! The song Chal ri sajni still echoes on our hearts.

Hum Dono (1961)

The dramatic film is about look-alikes -- who were not twins, and that was quite unusual -- who swap lives.

Dev Anand plays his double roles with much gusto and conviction. 

His pairing with Sadhana seemed blessed by divinity.

Johny Mera Naam (1970)

After the debacle of his directorial debut Prem Pujari, Dev Anand made a glorious comeback with Johny Mera Naam.  

The film was a compelling kitsch concoction about two long-lost brothers, several villains and a vamp who stripped for Premnath in the song Husn ke laakhon rang (sung by Asha Bhosle) that to date, remains the most suggestive song-and-dance ever shot in a Hindi film.

This was Dev Anand's sexiest film ever.

Tere Mere Sapne (1971)

A year after the classic kitschy tale, Johny Mera Naam, Vijay Anand directed his star-brother again in a rather sensitive subject about a doctor’s descent from nobility to corruption.

Mumtaz (who stepped in at the last minute to replace Sharmila Tagore) revealed herself to be one our finest actresses.

The film is suffused with the sounds of sorrow and romance, regret and nostalgia.

Its failure broke Dev Anand’s heart.

Hare Rama Hare Krishna (1971)

By far, Dev Anand's best film.

Hara Rama Hare Krishna tells the charming tender story of siblings separated by squabbling parents (Kishore Sahu and Achala Sachdev).

Shot in Kathmandu, the film has an aura of mystery and tragedy surrounding the plot and characters.

Dev Anand and Zeenat Aman were perfect as siblings, so perfect that all subsequent attempts to cast them as romantic leads collapsed.

Rahi (1953)

Rahi was one of Dev Anand’s unknown gems.

Based on litterateur Mulk Raj Anand’s story, The Wayfarer, the film was about the relationship between the British colonists and Indians. It was shot in a neo-realistic light by director K A Abbas.

Very seldom did Dev Anand step into the territory of experimental cinema -- Rahi was later internationally celebrated.

Dev Anand and his leading lady Nalini Jaywant went to Russia with the film where the film received an amazing response.

Jewel Thief (1967)

Vijay Anand loved casting his star-brother in roles about dual personalities.

In Jewel Thief, Dev Anand played his own character’s double, who didn’t exist.

To find out just how that worked you had to go through a goldmine of gorgeous girls -- Vyjanthimala, Tanuja, Helen and Fariyal -- and terrific songs climaxed by the breathless Hothon pe aisi baat where Dev generously allowed his leading lady to take centerstage.

Paying Guest (1957)

Nutan and Dev Anand were fantastic together in Subodh Mukherjee's Paying Guest.

Among the two romantic comedies that they together -- including Vijay Anand’s Tere Ghar Ke Samne -- I like Paying Guest better.

Both the stars were younger and looked so much in love under the fake studio moon.

Kala Pani (1958)

Dev Anand, as man out to prove his jailed father’s innocence, exuded so much intense determination that you wondered where and how he found those gaps in his mission to romance the lovely ladies, Madhubala and Nalini Jaywant.

Raj Khosla knew best how to tap Dev Anand’s arrogant romanticism.

Guide (1965)

The film that defines Dev Anand’s career. 

Raju the guide, who guides Rosy’s career into stardom and falls deep into the morass of corruption and damnation, came alive as real character, blemishes and all.

This is the one film that would keep Dev Anand alive in cinema forever.