Veteran actor Waheeda Rehman recalled memories of late actor Dev Anand, whom she had once called a ‘decent flirt’. During an interview with writer Twinkle Khanna, Waheeda blushed as she revealed why she gave Anand that tag. Waheeda also said that both the directors of Guide, for the Hindi and English version had rejected her at first.
Twinkle Khanna told Waheeda that she was ‘fascinated’ by the movie Guide, starring Waheeda Rehman and Dev Anand.
“My favourite movie was Guide. I still remember clearly. I was sitting on the floor and there was this dabba TV which had the depth of a closet and I was looking at Guide. I was completely fascinated,” Twinkle recalled.
When asked if Anand was the same way in real life as he was on screen, Waheeda mimicked the late actor, and recalled that he said, “Waheeda, kaisi ho? (How are you Waheeda) Come on, let's do this, Come on, come on,” when they first met.
She added that he insisted she call him Dev. When Waheeda addressed him as ‘Dev saab’, the actor responded, “Dev saab? Who’s that? No Dev saab, only Dev.”
Referring to Waheeda calling Dev Anand a ‘decent flirt’ in an interaction with Rajeev Masand, Twinkle asked, “I remember reading somewhere you said he’s a ‘decent flirt’. What does that mean? What does a decent flirt mean?”
Waheeda blushed at the question and revealed, “Jab Guide ki baat cheet ho rahi hai, pehle the Chetan Anand director Hindi ke, aur Tad Danielewski English ke. (When we were talking about Guide, both the directors, at first it was Chetan Anand for Hindi, and Tad Danielewski for English.) Both of them didn’t want me, they rejected me.”
“Toh Dev ne kaha, ‘I don’t care. My Rosie is only Waheeda.’ I said, ‘Wow, kitna accha support hai’. (I said, ‘Wow. That’s such great support.’)
Guide released in 1965 and was produced by Dev Anand. The film is based on the RK Narayan novel ‘The Guide’ and narrates the story of a guide Raju who meets Rosie, an archaeologist’s wife. Guide was also selected as India’s official entry at the Oscars. The movie has a 120 minute US version titled The Guide, directed by Danielewski.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)