The 1954 film Taxi Driver is the story of a cabbie; his taxi, vrooming across the streets of ’50s Bombay. Dev Anand plays his trademark cheerful and optimistic character, alongside actor Kalpana Kartik; the two married secretly during a break from shooting the film. The screenplay was written by Chetan Anand, his wife Uma Anand, and the youngest Anand brother, Vijay. This and other asides were part of a “stage documentary” titled Anand Hi Anand by actor-playwright Sohaila Kapur on her uncles’ lives at a programme recently at the city’s Radisson Blu Plaza Hotel.
“Chetan turned the streets of Bombay into a studio, mounting the camera on the bonnet of a taxi and shooting on the move!” recalls Kapur, niece of the Anand brothers. “The main actors took no money, and Taxi Driver went on to become a huge box-office success.” The film was produced under Navketan Films, the production house founded by Chetan and Dev.
However, Taxi Driver was not the only memorable project. Kapur adds, “The making of Guide had as many twists as its story.” When Dev Anand wanted to step into international cinema, he picked up R.K. Narayan’s novel The Guide. He even reached out to Nobel Prize-winning writer Pearl S. Buck for the adaptation. The idea was to release the film in both Hindi and English. “The Hindi version was directed by Vijay Anand, and the English by American director Tad Danielewski. But clashes arose between the American director and Vijay. Finally, it was decided that two separate versions would be made–one in English and one in Hindi.”
During the delays, on the other hand, brother Chetan went on to make Haqeeqat (1964), which received appreciation from the then Chief Minister of Punjab, Pratap Singh Kairon.
Additionally, while talking about her distinctive form of theatre that mixes narration, monologues, archival footage, and live music, Kapur remarks, “People say I’ve invented a new format. Maybe. But for me it was organic. It started with simple storytelling. But how can you speak about filmmakers without showing clips and music from their films? It all fell into place naturally.”
Back in the days
Kapur also gives glimpses of the Anand brothers’ early years. Her grandfather, Pishorimal Anand, left his ancestral land in Gharota village, Gurdaspur (granted for his ancestor’s service in Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s army) and became a lawyer.
He wanted his son Chetan to join the Indian Civil Services. Young Chetan was sent to a Gurukul in Haridwar, Uttarakhand, at the age of five. By the time he returned, he had memorised many scriptures, and his siblings gave him the name, “Pandit Ji.” Chetan took to theatre at Government College in Lahore, eventually making it his profession.
Dev, the middle child, studied intermediate in an English-medium girls’ school in Dalhousie, Himachal Pradesh. On his father’s advice, one of the professors taught him “proper (or “pro-puh!”, as Kapur jokingly stresses a British accent)” English. “Dev was a simple man, with no airs. He had a secretary but he always answered calls himself,” Kapur recalls of her uncle.
The youngest brother, Vijay Anand, was nicknamed “Goldilocks” for his golden-brown hair. The name was later shortened to “Goldie.” Being the youngest, Kapur emphasises that Goldie was the “diplomat”, often persuading his elder brothers to agree with him.
She remembers a memory from her conversation with actor Vyjayanthimala, who played the female lead in Jewel Thief (1967) directed by Vijay: “Vyjayanthimala once told me that Goldie wanted an entire dance sequence shot in a single take. He made her rehearse endlessly until she was exhausted. But she laughed while recalling it, because the result was extraordinary.”
Cinema’s legends
The Anand brothers left an indelible remark on the Hindi film industry. Navketan’s films gave way to future Bollywood legends like Johnny Walker, Rajesh Khanna, Zeenat Aman, Tabu, and many others.
Sometimes, there were disagreements, indeed, but the brotherly bond never weakened.“In 1997, when Chetan Mama passed away, Dev [Uncle] broke down. His biggest inspiration, the person he respected the most, was gone,” narrates Kapur.
In one archival clip, Dev Anand himself says: “I know Chetan deserved much more than what the world gave him.”
According to Kapur, the legacy of Navketan lies in the emotions that the classics still rejuvenate among the masses. “The Navketan legacy was very strong with the brothers when they were active. Even after, it remained,” she tells TMS. “People still come to me with songs from those films and tell me they remind them of their childhood; of watching with their families, of warmth, of joy.”
Even a film like Guide, though sad in parts, ends with a promise of tomorrow, she notes. The films were always hopeful, optimistic, and filled with beautiful music, that is, Kapur believes, the strongest legacy of the Anand brothers.