“What? You are getting Dev Anand in Dubai to release his autobiography? That’s great.”

I am simply over the moon. I have called one of my event-organizer friends after months- just to say hello and now she has broken to me the news of Dev saab’s proposed program in Dubai. She further tells me that besides her own event, there is a probable slot for organizing a public interview. Without even batting an eyelid, I tell her, “Keep it for me. I am doing that.”

Scene 2: (November 7, 2007)

Everything has been geared up for various public functions to felicitate Dev-saab and promote his autobiography in Dubai. Function-halls have been booked, sponsors secured, key people informed. Everyone seems so excited.

“Perhaps Dev-saab won’t be coming!”

The main event-organizer drops a bombshell at the eleventh hour. I am dumbfounded. She then tells me the behind the scenes story of her repeated calls to Dev-saab’s support staff and the quirky answers coming from there.

“But have you talked to Dev-saab himself?” I ask her.

She shakes her head. “They are just not letting me through to talk to him.”

 I am anxious. Picking up the phone, I call up the man arranging the star’s appointments. He starts the conversation with some roundabout business talk, not committing himself either to confirm or to cancel the Dubai events. After a while I lose my patience.

“Do you have any idea how much time and efforts have gone into organizing all these events? Now we are just one week away and still you are unwilling to commit Dev-saab’s presence. What’s all this nonsense? We all are doing it just out of love and admiration for him. Rest assured, we won’t disappoint you in any respect. But I want your confirmation now.”

The phone-line goes silent for a moment. I wonder whether he has hung up on me. Then, after a few seconds, I hear a voice.

“Dr. Mandar, it’s Dev here!”

Oh, my God! I am getting goose-bumps. It’s Dev Anand! The famous voice crackles through with energy and enthusiasm. In the next two minutes, Dev-saab assures me that everything is fine and on schedule. He then closes the deal in style:

“Don’t worry Mandar, Main aa raha hoon Dubai!”

I punch the air in jubilation!

Scene 3 (November 15, 2007)

It’s 3 am. We are waiting at the airport lounge to receive Dev-saab and his team.

Everything that can go wrong goes wrong that day! The flight lands late. There is some glitch in the pick-up at the terminal. The airport is crowded. The immigration procedure takes a long time. We keep waiting there for more than an hour.

Then we see him coming out. He is wearing a black suit and he is looking haggard. He is looking what he is; a tired, hunched, eighty-five year old man. He looks angry and irritable. He hardly takes notice of the welcome party and their pleasantries. He just asks, “Where is the car? Let’s go to the hotel.”

The event organizer sheepishly nods her head.

As I head back to Sharjah, I wonder how the great old man is going to be at the press conference tomorrow! Then I realize that the press conference is today. It is scheduled at 10 am and my car clock is already showing the time as 4.45 am!

Scene 4 (November 15, 2007)

Getting up at 8 am, I start early to ward off the infamous Sharjah-Dubai morning traffic rush. At exactly 9-30 am, I am inside the Aviation Club, the place where the press conference is scheduled. There is no one there. I am the first one on the scene.

The press contingent seems smarter. They seem to know when to arrive for these celebrity press conferences. One by one, when they finally come to fill up the hall, it is already 11 am. I keep observing the reporters. Some of them are callow cubs. They are there just to get their ‘copy’.  I am not too sure if they even really know whom they are going to meet today and what is his place in Indian cinema! The veterans look excited. They know the true significance. Dev Anand is coming! The star who has defied age since ages is visiting this bustling city for the first time!

It is almost twelve o’ clock, when Dev walks into the hall. A spontaneous standing ovation greets him. From my seat in the second row, I minutely observe him as he settles down to take questions from the media.

For a moment, I cannot believe my eyes. Is this the same grumpy old man that I came across just a few hours ago? Now he looks every inch the evergreen, ever-young superstar that he has been all through his life. He is bubbling with energy, grinning from ear to ear, enthusiastically discussing his book and charming everyone with his candid answers. He is simply a different man now! He is so suave and so eloquent.

I smile to myself. The stage has changed and so has the actor!

The press conference turns out to be a grand success.

Scene 5 (November 15, 2007)

It is 2 pm.

We are sitting at the table in a plush restaurant. I am sitting right next to him. I gently remind him about his public interview scheduled the next evening. I tell him that I would be using audio-visuals featuring his career’s cinematic and musical highlights. He looks curious but also strangely suspicious. There is no enthusiasm in his talk on the topic. I keep wondering what if he simply refuses to answer my questions on stage. It is a scary thought.

I decide to change the topic and ask him the secret of his youth! He brightens up, “No, I don’t have any particular fitness regime. I just keep working day in and day out and I eat less!” But whenever I try to ask him something from the past, he just sidetracks the question. He keeps talking about the films he wants to make but doesn’t have much to say about his earlier efforts. It seems as if he has already closed those chapters from his book.

As we come out of the restaurant, he rapidly walks ahead leaving all of us behind to catch up with him. Looking at his boundless energy, I decide to forget for a moment my sleep deficit!

Scene 6 (November 16, 2007)

10.30 am

I call up on my friend’s mobile. He is personally looking after Dev-saab’s arrangements in Dubai.

“Hi, we are reaching Abu Dhabi. Dev-saaab wanted to meet some people and scout for some locations there. We started early. We hit the road by eight o’clock. Don’t worry we will be back by 4 pm.”

I am aghast. The octogenarian has arrived in Dubai just the previous morning. In the last twenty four hours, he has handled a bad flight experience, a delay at the hotel, a busy press conference and a crowded evening gala show. During this period, he must have had maximum six-seven hours of sleep and that, too in two installments. Now, from where is he going to get the energy and enthusiasm for the public interview, which is scheduled at 7 pm at Dubai’s India Club?

Scene 7 (November 16, 2007)

7-15 pm

I am sitting in Dubai’s India Club with its secretary and trusties. We all have been waiting for our superstar guest to arrive. Our public interview is an ‘invitees only’ event and the invitees are getting restless.

Every now and then, I keep checking on mobile. Dev-saab has already left from his hotel but has been caught up in the week-end traffic.

I am nervous. Till now, Dev-saab has not really given me the proper go-ahead about this interview. He has just said, “Yes, we will see.” What if…once again the negative thoughts cloud my mind.

The India Club secretary tries to ask me when the star would arrive. “The trusties have been waiting”, he says.

I snap at him. I am just taking out my own frustrations on him. He is taken aback but takes it in his stride. He knows that we are both in the same boat!

All of a sudden, we hear a buzz.

“Oh, look, Dev Anand is here.”

He has arrived!

Scene 8 (November 16, 2007)

7.45 pm

‘Romancing with life’, Dev-saab’s autobiography is formally released in Dubai. Just over a month ago, it had been released in India by Indian Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh. Now it is getting released in Dubai with me standing on stage along with Dev-saab and India Club President! The three of us hold the unveiled copy in air. It is such an honour! The audience claps for Dev-saab and I bask in the reflected glory!

As per the schedule, we skip the speeches and directly prepare the stage for the public interview.  I sit across Dev-saab, all set to ask him questions.  The audience waits with bated breath. Till now, I am not sure how he is going to react to this exercise.

I ask him the first question about the book- why it is titled Romancing with life.

He begins to talk. My heart skips a beat. His answer is going haywire. He is talking randomly and rapidly in flowing English but it is not an answer. It is a speech. Then thankfully after around 10 minutes he decides to wind it up with a punch-line. The audience applauds lustily.

They haven’t realized the subtext, I have. They are just happy that they have heard Dev Anand live! I know that the man is still uncomfortable with this whole public interview idea and is trying to take the control into his hands.

But the applause works wonders. Suddenly he looks relaxed. The suspicion in his eyes has melted away. Now he knows he owns the audience and nothing can go wrong. The stage is set and the showman is back. Now, he coolly lets me ask the questions at my pace and starts answering them in his trademark rapid-fire, humor-laced and candid style. But every now and then, he checks himself when he feels his answers here would steal his book’s thunder. Then he just wraps it up with a stock expression – “Read it in my book!”

Within next half an hour, we cover a lot of ground, moving from his famous roles to his heartbreak with Suraiya to his romance with Kalpana Kartik to his contemporary stars to his style sense to his relationship with his brothers – Chetan and Vijay to the wonderful music and musicians in his films.

The accompanying audio-visuals on screen enliven the proceedings. The various song-videos and photographic images of young debonair Dev keep reminding us of his golden era on silver screen. The answers coming from the wise, old, wrinkled man sitting across me keep reminding us how he has moved on with times, taking both success as well as failure in his stride.

It is an awesome experience and it finally ends with a standing ovation for the thespian!

Scene 9 (November 16, 2007)

8.30 pm

I am rueing my decision of keeping the public questions section at the end of the interview session. It is turning out to be so embarrassing.  There is nothing substantial coming out of that exercise, just some out-of-place requests for filmi dialogues and even a downright rude attack on his personal integrity. But by this time, Dev-saab is in his elements. He doesn’t get ruffled and just brushes these queries aside in his charming manner.

The interview is followed by the dinner. He is now mobbed by all and sundry in the hall. He happily obliges everybody with a courteous smile and autographs the book-copies.

Scene 10 (November 16, 2007)

9.30 pm

The program is finally over. I go outside to see him off. There just before getting into the car, he shakes my hand. Holding my hand in both hands and looking straight into my eyes, he says, “That was quite well done. I have never done something like this before. Kabhi Bombay aaoge, to zaroor ghar aana. Raat ke baarah baje bhi mere darwaaze pe dastak do, Dev tumhare liye haazir hoga!” (Whenever you come to Bombay, do drop into my house. Even if you knock at my door at midnight, I’d be there for you!)

I smile. It is so filmi. It is so Dev Anand-like! But still, I want to believe it! He makes me believe it.

Then he gets into the car and waves me good-bye! I wave back.

The car moves on. I keep looking at it till it disappears from the sight. Then, the realization hits. My dream-come-true experience has just come to an end! Now it is time to go back to the humdrum reality.

As I turn back, I softly say, “Good bye Dev-saab! Good bye!”