Gurdaspur: It has been 12 years since the evergreen hero Dev Anand, who shone like a pole star in the glare of Bollywood for six decades, left the world. Today is his 101st birthday, but no government has been able to build a memorial for this evergreen hero, who ruled the hearts of millions of Indians with his charming acting and unique style, in his native district Gurdaspur and village Gharota. Like every time, this time also no program dedicated to his birthday was organized by the government or the district administration. It is noteworthy that Dev Anand was born in old tehsil Shakargarh of Gurdaspur district and was brought up in Gharota village, 22 kilometers away from Gurdaspur. He lived in the same village with his brothers Chetan Anand, Vijay Anand and Manmohan Anand. Dev Anand's ancestors also lived in this village.
A very important sentence has to be mentioned here that there were no children in Dev Anand's grandfather's house. In 1902, on the request of an intelligent man of that time, he built the Shivala Temple in this village. Former village sarpanch Anu Bala said that no member of the Anand family came to the village. When his brother Manmohan died in 1971, Dev Anand himself came to the village. Last year, after 50 years, on November 28, senior Supreme Court lawyer Narendra Lal Anand, who belongs to the Anand family, came to the village and offered prayers at the said Shivala temple. Dev Anand's family lived in Anand's big house, now 8 more houses have been built. Let us tell you that Dev Anand's brothers Vijay Anand and Chetan Anand also earned a lot of name in the film industry. Dev Anand was born on 26 September 1923 in Shakargarh tehsil of Gurdaspur district of undivided India. Later his family settled in Gurdaspur village. After living in this village for a long time, Dev Anand's father sold the house and started living on rent in Amam Bara Chowk of Gurdaspur city. Dev Anand's father Pishauri Lal
He was a distinguished lawyer. He practiced law in the courts of district Gurdaspur for many years. Senior advocate Balraj Mohan says that when he started practicing law in 1968, he came in contact with advocate Pishauri Lal. Pishauri Lal became his very close friend. Advocate Balraj Mohan further said that Pishauri Lal had a good command over Persian and Arabic languages. He used to recite Urdu poems and ghazals to his sons.
He was fascinated by his mother Pushkar Nanda
Senior lawyer Advocate Pushkar Nand Dev, former president of District Bar Association Gurdaspur, is among Anand's relatives. Pushkar Nanda says that his elders and Dev Anand's family were similar to each other. In 1965, Dev Anand and Vijay Anand Secretary Mohalla also came to his house. According to elders, Dev Anand rarely talked about himself. He was extremely fascinated by his mother. Once his mother suffered from tuberculosis. At that time, he and a friend would often travel by bus to Amritsar, 40 km away, to get medicines. This sequence continued until his mother recovered.
Jamaya Sikka as actor, producer, director
Dev Anand started his film journey in 1946 with the film 'Hum Ek Hain'. After this, he started his acting career with one after another successful films like Jaal, Pocketmaar, Hare Rama Hare Krishna, Jewel Thief, Banarasi Babu etc. At that time Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar and Dev Anand were known as the golden trio. 1949 he started his own company named Navketan Film. He gave many successful films under the Navketan banner. Dev Anand was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2001 and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2002 by the Government of India. He has been honored with the Filmfare Award twice. In 1993 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Big memorial built in the village: Sarpanch Anu Bala
Former sarpanch of village Gharota, Anu Bala and her husband former sarpanch Naresh Kumar said in a conversation that the boy from their village has earned name in the country and abroad. Dev Anand will always be remembered as a great icon. The Central and Punjab governments should build a grand memorial of Dev Anand in the village.