The Man and his Movies’ book review| Golden trailblazer- The New Indian Express
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Though acknowledged by friends and hailed as trailblazers by generations that observe, many influential artists are sometimes relegated to the side-lines. Vijay Anand is an instance pretty much as good as any on the subject of this bunch. The person behind masterpieces equivalent to Information (1965), Jewel Thief (1967), Johny Mera Naam (1970), Tere Mere Sapne (1971) and the hypnotic Teesri Manzil (1966) will not be as readily named among the many biggest of his period.
It might need to do with the looming shadow of the larger-than-life personalities that surrounded him. Anand continuously battled the overwhelming consideration that his elder brother, and in some ways additionally his mentor, Dev Anand, attracted, but in addition, within the method of talking, noticed him take away his credit score.
Whereas Anand’s brilliance was a much-discussed topic within the Nineteen Nineties and 2000s, when cinema-conversant technology of movie school-educated film makers dominated Bombay cinema, one hardly ever acquired to know the person behind the display screen credit score. Goldie: The Man and His Motion pictures provides a implausible perception into the guts and thoughts of the avant garde auteur, who managed to face his personal amongst contemporaries that included the likes of Guru Dutt, Raj Khosla, BR Chopra, Raj Kapoor and the then Younger Turks equivalent to Yash Chopra, Manmohan Desai.
Fondly known as ‘Goldie’, Vijay Anand virtually ‘saved’ his elder brother Dev Anand’s movie manufacturing firm, Navketan Movies, which was began to assist their eldest brother, Chetan Anand, discover field workplace success. Chetan Anand’s Neecha Nagar (1944), the co-recipient of the first-ever Grand Prix on the Cannes Movie Competition with Rome, Open Metropolis, acquired him laurels however discovered no takers in Bombay. Dev, a profitable star, launched Afsar (1950) to advertise Chetan; nonetheless, the manufacturing sank on the field workplace. The 19-year-old Goldie then got here up with the concept for Taxi Driver (1954), and the movie grew to become a runaway hit. Goldie had misplaced his mom when he was a toddler, and it was Chetan and his spouse, Uma, who introduced him up initially.
Later, Goldie additionally spent a while at his sister’s residence together with her youngsters and at last, it was in Bombay that Dev took him beneath his wings. An immensely gifted author, Vijay Anand wrote and directed a number of performs whereas finding out in school and made fairly a reputation for himself. Movies had been a pure step, and whereas Goldie fancied performing, it was writing and directing that took centre stage.
Within the Nineteen Nineties, after the highlight had lengthy shifted away from him and Vijay Anand had stopped directing his brother, he gave a sequence of interviews to Anitaa Padhye. It was maybe for the primary time that the filmmaker introspected about his life and profession.
Studying Padhye’s e-book, which was initially revealed a few years in the past in Marathi, one will get a way of the disillusionment that inundated this gifted filmmaker all through his life. A way of abandonment, in all probability as a result of being shunted round in his youth, appeared to have instilled inside Goldie a need to regulate all facets of his life.
Whereas his private life had many ups and downs that included a doomed marriage and feeling let down by non secular gurus equivalent to Rajneesh and UG Krishnamurti, Goldie’s skilled life additionally featured hassle with friends.
Goldie typically acquired connected with an identification of being a ‘Navketan’ worker that saved folks equivalent to Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor at bay. Additionally, a sequence of well being issues typically made him take a look at life in a light-weight completely different from his elder brother, Dev, whose joie de vivre was legendary.
For cinephiles, there may be maybe nobody who comes near the all-around expertise of Vijay Anand. In an period the place movies had been identified both by the director or the producer, Goldie’s finest was credited to Dev Anand, who typically each starred and produced the movie. Did this scar the filmmaker? May Vijay Anand be a far higher filmmaker than he was had his future not been linked to Dev saahab’s?
Movie lovers and commentators and followers have requested such questions of Vijay Anand for years. Anitaa Padhye’s e-book is a must-read for individuals who search solutions to such questions and extra on the subject of Goldie Anand.