'The audience is alive and so Dev is alive'

Dev Anand on finding the next Zeenat Aman for his next film Chargesheet and rereleasing Hum Dono in colour 50 years since it hit the screens Sinking into a plush chair at his makeshift Khar office his penthousecumstudio is being redone Dev Anand breaks into a loopy smile and says Shoot The pace is frenetic as always When his office boy brings in coffee sans sugar Dev shoos him away with Keep the cups quickly and out ufffd out My flow of thought will break However when a song from Hum Dono filters in from the next room he cant resist a grinDev Anand in a still from Chargesheet thats expected tou00a0 hit theatres by the end of this year Later he takes a voluntary break to show us his swollen finger Look at my hand I dont type I use pen and paper Once I am in the frame of mind to write I can ready a script in just eight days Excerpts from an interview Navketan celebrates 60 years in 2010 Afsar was released in 1950 and you are the only filmmaker from that era whos still making films But I feel that Im just starting off and have just got off at Bombay Central station as I did back in 1943 How do you look back Look at my span Today Im on a high because I have seen it all experienced it all learned from it all and am still passionate about films Im also on a high because Im in a unique situation ufffd I have two movies coming up for release ufffd my latest film Charge Sheet and the colourised version of Hum Dono 1961 which will be released 50 years after the original hit the screensu00a0 To have two films in theatres at the age of 87 is remarkable But certain purists have reservations about colourising classics I have not colourised the film Some people from Hyderabad have picked up my film for colourising Initially I did not agree Hum Dono was released in 1961 and it will be 50 years in 2011 so I thought Why not And it has turned out beautifully Hum Dono had the beautifullypenned song by Sahir ufffd Main zindagi ka saath nibhaata chala gaya ufffd which has become my philosophy of humanity and positivity What is the enduring quality about Hum DonoHum Dono was an outstanding super duper hit ufffd and now it will be in colour The films theme about war and morality never gets backdated So I thought its a good idea Do you think its a bad idea A classic with two pretty heroines Sadhana and Nanda and a legendary handsome hero in a double role ufffd what more can the audience want Ironically though both the heroines of the film have quitEverybody has quit My own colleagues dont make movies Sadhana and Nanda are there but not there for the movies Music composer Jaidev lyricist Sahir are dead but the audience is alive and so Dev is alive It will be interesting for the audience to watch the two films because I am different now from what I was in 1961 Physically yes But how else Talentwise I have grown ufffd good or bad is for the world to judge I am doing what I think I should do today and playing my age You have been pretty low key about Charge SheetI will now take it to Delhi and flaunt it A friend says this picture will do well and I too think it will because it is a good picture Charge Sheet is a taut twohour long suspense thriller The story is fiction ufffd no names no identification of events ufffd but its believable It stars Naseeruddin Shah Jackie Shroff Divya Dutta and myself Theres a new girl Debashi who is outstanding ufffd I think she will be the next Zeenat Aman Have you have been charge sheeted or filed a charge sheet against anybodyI have never been charge sheeted I dont put myself into trouble As for charge sheeting somebody you waste a lot of time because the whole system is so slow Is your character on the right side of the lawHe is on the right side of the law but you may misunderstand him in certain scenes of the filmu00a0u00a0You have enjoyed playing the antiheroYes all the time ufffd Jewel Thief Taxi Driver Baazi Jaal even Guide A role with slightly grey shades is more interesting than a goodygoody person No matter how good you are theres always something thats ugly within Our greatgreatgreat grandfathers felt the same things we do today ufffd they had a wife maybe a sweetheart They had kids but there were temptations perhaps a desire to kill to grab to own a woman So when you work on a script you work on these emotions Man may have become more sophisticated but his instincts have remained intact If the human emotion in a film is strong it works Forget the technique You always make new fangled films When you are experimenting there are chances of being disappointed but if you strike jackpot you hit big Dont you ever feel like resting on your laurels and opting for an easy paced lifeNo I will quit only if I am disabled But moviemaking is a brain activity you can sit on a chair and direct a film When people say Dev Anand is a legend I feel happy but I am still competing ufffd as an actor director producer and scriptwriter ufffd with everybody today And I dont mean just people in this country because this country cannot be isolated from this world Would you call yourself a happy manI am very selfishly contented as I am very involved with my movies I eat drink and sleep cinema Whatever I have done so far has been conceived written by me Some people criticise me but a film like a book is finally an auteurs point of view The writer is the Editor of Bollywood News Service