Skip to main content

60 years of Nav Ketan Films



In year 1949, Dev Anand, along with brother Chetan Anand, started a film production company called Nav Ketan films. Year 2009 marks the 60th anniversary of the film company. The company that introduced artists like Guru Dutt, Jaidev, Johny Walker, Sahir Ludhianvi. Zeenat Aman and Tabu.
Beginning was great with Chetan Anand directing Afsar (1949) based on Nikolai Gogol's play The Government Inspector. Next came Guru Dutt's directorial debut Baazi (1951). Then within next decade some of fine films, mostly thanks to Chetan and Vijay Anand. In 1961, people heard the great music by Jai dev for the film Hum Dono. A film later in 1965, Vijay Anand directed path breaking Guide (1965) adapted from R. K. Narayan's novel The Guide and  then he went on to direct the brilliant thriller Jewel Thief (1967). Dev Anand turned director with Prem Pujari (1970) and on screen played a butterfly chasing peacenik. Then in 1971,  he directed the phenomena called Hare Rama Hare Krishna and Zeenat Aman. Some more films by this company, some more years pass and by the time you watch the 'run-of-the-jungle-mill ' end sequence of 1984 film 'Anand Aur Anand', the debut film of Dev Anand's son Suneil Anand, you may have suspected it for quite some time, but now you are convinced, Dev Anand's work is increasingly making intrusions into Gogol's world. You can imagine Dev Anand telling himself, 'You can't imagine how stupid the whole world has grown nowadays.The things these scribblers write!' And then he resolves to work on three more films, work out the concept for two more and release one more.


'Gregory Peck or no Gregory Peck, I will always walk like this!':  An Image of Dev Anand found in The Moving Image: A Study of Indian Cinema by Kishore Valicha
Video: Studio logos from Taxi Driver(1954) and Awwal Number (1989 )
Labels:

Comments

  1. loveSep 14, 2009, 8:23:00 AM

    dear sir,my childhood dreams that i want to be become hero.i have great talent but need true support.
    love kumar sahu
    09301183037

    ReplyDelete
  2. Vinayak RazdanSep 16, 2009, 9:25:00 PM

    I am not Dev Anand. I am the guy who parodied him in all those films from the 90s.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

I always like to hear back :)
However, irrelevant comments and irrelevant links will not be published. Needless to say, same goes for abusive comment and spam. Leaving back links related to the topic is encouraged. I know it can be tempting but try not to leave your email ids, phone nos and CVs in the comment.

Popular posts from this blog

Famous Old Faces of Doordarshan

Some people recall the faces and some people recall the names. Here are images of some of the famous readers and presenters of Doordarshan down the years. If you recognize any of them, leave a comment. [ Update 1 : Most of the faces now have names thanks to helpful comments by olio-gallimaufry ] [ Update 2 : Included image of one of the earliest presenters, Gopal Kaul. Send in generously from personal collection by son, Ashutosh Kaul. Sept, 2010.] [ Major Update 3: Got a tip-off about a documentary about the famous faces of Doordarshan from the makers   of     “The Golden Trail , DD@50 :Special feature on Golden Jubilee of Doordarshan ” from which these caps were taken. I managed to catch the incredible documentary and am adding some more faces/name and part of the docu here. New ones can be found after the image of  Narotam Puri. 30th Oct, 2010]  Pratima Puri. Believed to be the first Doordarshan reader.
175 comments
Read more

Indian Cigarette Vintage Ads

He put a cigarette in his mouth and, as a matter of silent routine, offered one to Gwyn, who said ‘No thanks.”Richard looked at him.”I packed it in.”"You what?”"I stopped. Three days ago. Cold. That’s it. You just make the life choice.” Richard looked up and inhaled needfully. He gazed at his cigarette. He didn’t really want to smoke it. He wanted to eat it. Almost the only thing that he still liked about Gwyn was that he still smoked…Paradoxically, he no longer wanted to give up smoking: what he wanted to do was take up smoking. Not so much to fill the little gaps between cigarettes with cigarettes (there wouldn’t be time, anyway) or to smoke two cigarettes at once. It was more that he felt the desire to smoke a cigarette even when he was smoking a cigarette. The need was and wasn’t being met… While it would always be true and fair to say that Richard felt like a cigarette, it would now be doubly true and fair to say it. He felt like a cigarette. And he felt like a cig...
21 comments
Read more

Target Magazine 1988 Annual Issue

Cover of Target Magazine 1988 Annual Issue (June) It's a copy that a cousin brother of mine owns. Years ago, I discovered this wonderful magazine only thanks to him. I was too young, about seven, when I first laid my hand on it. I never owned a single copy, my cousin used to do the buying. By the time I decided it was time for me to buy my first copy, the publishers had called quit on the magazine. Yes I did buy a copy of Teens Today. But never again. On the cover image above, one can see Granny, Gardhab Das, Detective Moochwala with his Pooch and many other characters that made this magazine special . -0- Related post: Cherry Blossom ad featuring Gavaskar from this magazine -0- Update: Apr 23, 2014 Rama shared April 1988 issue of Target Magazine 
66 comments
Read more