Romancing with Life: Dev Anand’s Unfiltered Journey

Some books you read and move on. And then there are some that wrap themselves around your heart forever. Romancing with Life by Dev Anand is that kind of book — a living, breathing journey you don’t just read, you feel every step of the way.

From the first page, it’s like Dev Saab is sitting across from you, flashing that trademark smile, talking like an old friend. No pretenses, no hiding behind stardom. Just raw, open memories of a boy from Gurdaspur who dared to dream too big for the place he came from. His words are simple, almost conversational, but they carry this incredible weight — the kind only a life fully lived can give.

I found myself laughing, sighing, and sometimes even pausing just to sit with the feeling of what he said. It’s not crafted or polished like most celebrity autobiographies. It’s messy in the most beautiful way. He talks about falling in love — with people, with cities, with cinema — the way most of us breathe. There’s something heartbreakingly tender in the way he writes about women; never sensational, never disrespectful. You feel how deeply he could love, how every person who crossed his path left a soft mark on his soul.

And then there was Suraiya.

The love story that could have been, should have been, but heartbreakingly wasn’t. You can feel Dev Saab’s tenderness, even decades later, when he writes about her. It wasn’t just a teenage crush — it was one of those rare, soul-deep connections that life, with all its complications, sometimes denies us. Reading about their stolen glances, the songs sung for each other on film sets, the helplessness against family pressures... it’s almost too much for the heart to bear. You want to reach across time and history and somehow make it right for them. Suraiya loved him — everyone knew it, and he loved her with the kind of fierce, innocent devotion that only comes once in a lifetime. When she broke away, it wasn’t just the end of a romance; it was a quiet shattering that Dev Saab never let harden him. Instead, he took that pain and poured it into his art, into his love for life itself. But somewhere between his smiles and his endless energy, you can still feel the ghost of that one great love — the one that slipped away, but never really left him.

His marriage to Kalpana Kartik… well no fairy tales here, no melodrama... just two people choosing each other, quietly, stubbornly, without making a show of it. It’s all so understated that it moves you even more. Like everything else in his life, he didn’t hang onto the highs or lows for too long — he just kept moving forward.

And then, much later, came Zeenat Aman — not as a fleeting crush, but as a muse who lit up a different chapter of his life. Dev Saab’s admiration for Zeenat is painted across the pages with the brushstrokes of genuine awe and deep, respectful affection. He discovered her, believed in her when few others dared to see beyond her beauty, and carved out a space for her to become the sensation she was meant to be. There’s a youthful energy in the way he talks about Zeenat — almost as if working with her gave him a second wind, a new sparkle in his dreams. But what moves you most is the grace with which he speaks about her — no bitterness, no claims, no possessiveness. Just pure pride, as an artist who recognized another rising star and had the joy of watching her soar. In Zeenat, you feel Dev Saab’s endless romance with life once again — the belief that new beginnings, new magic, were always just a heartbeat away.

Reading those early chapters, I could almost feel the dust of Gurdaspur under my feet, the fire in a young boy’s chest who refused to settle. Dev Anand never lets you forget where he came from, but he also shows you — without ever bragging — how far he traveled because he never stopped believing that something better was always waiting just around the corner.

Even when the world called him a star, he stayed a student. He learned. He experimented. He directed. He wrote. He failed sometimes, but he never became bitter. He kept falling in love with life itself, again and again, like someone who refuses to get cynical no matter how much life tries to rough them up.

And that charm... I swear it jumps straight off the pages. Nobody, and I mean nobody, could walk, talk, or smile like Dev Anand. No one before him, no one after him. You can hear his voice in your head when you read. That slightly hurried, breathless way he spoke, like he was too excited to stay inside the rules of conversation. That sparkle in his eyes that made even the simplest things feel like a grand adventure. I remember crying when I heard he had passed away, like I had lost something personal. Some magic that wouldn’t ever come back to this world again.

Even today, I find myself rewatching Guide, Jewel Thief, Johny Mera Naam, Tere Ghar Ke Samne — losing myself in that effortless style, that energy that doesn’t age. You can’t imitate Dev Anand. You can try — God knows so many have — but nobody else has that walk, that way of turning his head just so, that way of making every word sound like an adventure. He was one of a kind, and this book only makes you fall deeper under that old, familiar spell.

He never stopped loving and to be honest, I don’t want to judge him for the same. He keep falling in love at different times. Suraiya and Zeenat Aman weren't just names in Dev Anand’s story; they were a living proof of how deeply he felt, how fearlessly he loved, and how gracefully he left them without ever becoming bitter. He never chained love, never mourned it so much that it turned into regret. He simply placed them into his heart and kept moving forward, with that signature twinkle in his eyes and his charming smile.

There’s this also a deep thread that runs through Dev Saab’s story — one of friendship, loyalty, and a kind of innocence that's almost impossible to find today. His bond with Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar wasn’t built on success or fame or any of those flashy things. It was built in small rented rooms, over shared dreams and endless struggles. Three young boys who barely had anything in their pockets but had this mad fire burning in their hearts. They didn't see each other as competition. They were just trying to survive, trying to make it, and somewhere in that journey, they became each other’s comfort and strength.

And Guru Dutt... even now when I think of Guru Dutt and Dev Saab, it’s hard not to feel this ache. They weren’t just friends; it’s like their souls understood each other. They came up together, helped each other, shared ideas, cheered for each other. When Guru Dutt left this world so early, you could almost feel that a piece of Dev Saab broke quietly inside him, even if he never said it out loud.

Goldie — Vijay Anand — was another pillar. More than just a brother, he was a partner in creating pure magic. Their films together didn’t just entertain people — they touched hearts, they taught us about life and love and longing. You could feel the bond between them even without them saying a word.

But what truly shattered me was reading about Kishore Kumar's death. Kishore da and Dev Saab had shared such an electric, beautiful bond — full of laughter, songs, and years of memories. And when Kishore da was gone, Dev Saab went and sat next to his body. Not saying anything, not breaking down for the world to see. He just sat there, singing all the songs they had made together — softly, maybe with tears slipping out, maybe smiling through them. For one whole hour, Just him and Kishore da, in a deep sleep (from which he would never wake up), like old times, like nothing had changed. And then, without making a scene, without asking for sympathy, he quietly got up, drove himself back home.

Can you even imagine the strength that takes? To lose your friend, your partner in so many songs, so many memories, and still hold yourself with that much grace...

Even today, when you think of Dev Saab, you don't just remember an actor or a superstar — you remember a man who walked through life with arms wide open, ready to embrace every heartbreak, every triumph, every new adventure with the same boyish wonder. And maybe that’s why no one can ever truly imitate him — because Dev Anand wasn’t a performance. He was life itself, romanced and lived with breathtaking honesty.

Romancing with Life doesn’t read like a star showing off. It feels like a man telling you, quietly and honestly: this was my life. It had heartbreak. It had mistakes. It had unforgettable love stories. And through it all, it had hope. Endless, stubborn hope.

By the time you finish, you don’t feel like you just read a memoir. You feel like you walked beside Dev Anand for a little while, through streets lined with dreams and heartbreak and the kind of courage most people only wish they had. And somewhere deep inside, you know — there never will be another quite like him.

Book Name: Romancing with Life

Author: Dev Anand

Publisher: Penguin Random House India

(This book review and art section is curated by Shweta, a certified NLP practitioner with a passion for writing about art, books, family, relationships, and her insights from conversations, books, and movies. If you would like your work to get published, feel free to send an email to the editorial desk of Style Essentials at styleessentials.in@gmail.com. We’d love to consider your work for an insightful review.)