For an actor who has worked in more than 100 films -- most of them big hits -- it becomes very difficult to list the best ones. The task becomes much tougher when the actor in question is Dev Anand.
On the evergreen star's 83rd birthday, Chief Correspondent Syed Firdaus Ashraf attempts to list his best movies.
Guide
This is about the liberation of a woman (gorgeous Waheeda Rahman) from the clutches of marriage, portrayed beautifully in the song, Aaj phir jeene ki tamana hai.
Based on R K Narayan's novel of the same name, this Vijay Anand movie has a love story that few Indian filmmakers can match. Rosy, a dancer, suppresses her ambition to be a good housewife and gets depressed when her sculptor husband loses interest in her and finds solace only in his job. She meets Raju Guide (Dev Anand), who inspires her to dance and realise her dreams. She becomes a famous dancer, but her rising popularity creates a rift between the two.
Unlike today's movies where physical intimacy takes prominence, Rosy and Raju Guide barely touched each other in the film. Gentle hugs and holding hands said it all, and that was the beauty of Guide.
The subject was a bold one for 1965, when a married woman falling in love with another man was unthinkable. But Dev Anand had the guts to put money on it. S D Burman's music added to its greatness.
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