‘He was way ahead of his times’. No article on Vijay Anand aka Goldie is complete without this sentence and I see no reason why I shouldn’t begin mine with that. Yes, Goldie was indeed way ahead of his times as a film director. In an era of simple, straight-forward movie-making, he brought in a rare technical finesse and gloss into his films. At the same time, he never lost his grip on the narrative. His story-telling was as expressive and as sensitive as the best in business.

Born as a younger brother to two of film industry’s legendary names- director- producer Chetan Anand and the evergreen superstar Dev Anand, Vijay not only held his own against his big brothers in film-making but was in fact considered as the most talented of the threesome.

An average actor but a great director

As an actor, he was just average- both, in his looks and in his craft and that reflected in his none too memorable acting portfolio. He started as a hero in Agra Road (1957) but could never make a mark in that capacity. His portrayals as Jaya Bhaduri’s estranged husband in Kora Kaagaz and as a foreign- returned doctor finding salvation in serving needy, poor patients in a rural area in Tere Mere Sapne were memorable, though.

Director Vijay Anand was a different story. In this field, he was a master. Here his versatility was simply amazing. Romantic comedies like Nau Do Gyarah and Tere Ghar Ke Saamne; sentimental classics like Kaala Bazaar, Guide and Tere Mere Sapne; suspense thrillers like Jewel Thief and Teesri Manzil and pot-boilers like