Ah so I am done with this 400 pages autobiography of Dev Anand (DA). There are some books that are full of words and there are others that aren’t. Catch 22 for example was full of words. It was small in size, the size of a pocket guide-book and had little less than 500 pages but it took me ages to finish it off. Reading every page was an effort and following the plot was a challenge in itself. DA’s ‘Romancing with Life’ however was as light as the The Safed Bagh by Adiga and I could devour it much faster than I had intended to. So I am bookless all of a sudden and it’s not a good feeling.
Few months back I was reading a book called the Penguin Non-Fiction Collection (Vol 1 to be precise – there are three volumes of this book). This collection had several chapters (I think about 30), each chapter being taken from a different non-fiction. One of them was from DA’s autobiography – the chapter talked about how he and Suraiya had fallen in love with each other once upon a time, only to later witness a rather sad end to the short lived affair. His spirit, captured in that one chapter touched my heart totally. I think it made my eyes moist as well. So when I happened to find his ever green smiling face adorning the thick cover of the hard-bound autobiography, I picked it up with delight. And now after having read it completely, I am happy that I did. People like me who relish it when reading or watching something moves them occasionally, moistening their eyes, will like the book. They shall like to read how full of life this dude is. The first 200 pages are cutest – you feel like watching a movie with DA as a hero, liking him more with every passing scene.
Verdict: not necessarily a must-read but you shall certainly feel good and light-hearted when you will follow DA romancing with his life.