His first brush with acting in a Shakespearean play made him realise that Bollywood was his actual calling. Filmmaker Ketan Anand may have won applause for his films like ‘Toote Khilone’ and ‘Shart’ but nothing has given him more pleasure than screening his latest venture - a docu-drama on his father Chetan Anand.

On a visit to the Capital this past week to showcase ‘Chetan Anand -- The Poetics of Film’, Ketan says his father first took India to the overseas market with his very first directorial venture ‘Neecha Nagar’ that went on to win the Grand Prix at the Cannes International Film Festival in 1946. “So my docu-drama traverses through his works along with a look at his inner self. Besides scenes from his films, it has rare photographs and inputs from friends, family and colleagues. It is about the contribution of the filmmaker to the Hindi film industry. In all, it is an emotional tribute to my father.”

Elder brother of Dev Anand, Chetan Anand was revered not only by the evergreen hero but also by Raj Kapoor and Guru Dutt, says Ketan, who has also released a book that bears the same title as the film.

Stating that his father was a multi-faceted person, Ketan says it was very difficult to separate him into artificial compartments. “Chetan Anand lived his films, he was his films and his films were him. He revealed very little about himself but from time to time, in rare moments of deep conversation he would plumb a depth which was not easy to fathom. He was a father to me as some fathers are to sons – tolerant, aloof, rarely showing his arrogance when I irked him. The gap of the years that I did not live with him, took its toll. So we never became friends. I would have liked to break through the barrier.”

Jogging his memory to his childhood days when he watched the shooting of one of Chetan Anand’s films, Ketan says he was in school when he along with his brother Vivek got a chance to feature in a song of ‘Funtoosh’. ``The song was picturised on Dev Anand and Sheila Ramani and we were part of the frame.”

While graduating in history honours from St. Stephen’s College in Delhi, Ketan got a chance to act in a play. “Kabir Bedi, who was one year senior to me in college, coaxed me to act in a play produced by Shakespeare Society. After acting in it, I got drawn to Hindi films. Though I was aspiring to join the Indian Administrative Service, I now felt that administration was not for me. So I wrote to my father that I wanted to join films. He told me that he was waiting for the letter for a long time but advised me against joining the acting institute at Pune as I would have to unlearn everything that I learn there. So he welcomed me to the school of hard knocks.”

As an actor, Ketan got a chance to play a hippie in his uncle Dev Anand’s film ‘Hare Rama Hare Krishna’. “I played the son of the police commissioner of Nepal and was also featured in the famous song ‘Dum Maro Dum’.”

Ketan got another chance to act alongside Dev Anand. “Actually, I am the favourite nephew of Dev Anand and am happy that his autobiography is going to be released soon. His energy levels are so high that even a child will be amazed.”

Ketan also acted in ‘Ravana’ that starred the late Smita Patil whom he describes as a brilliant actress. But more than acting, it was direction that beckoned him. “Direction was something more intelligent to do than being an actor who would give his shot and then disappear into the make-up room. A director is in complete control of the situation and knows how exactly he has to end the movie.”

Remembering the shooting of Chetan Anand’s ‘Haqeeqat’ that made remarkable use of technology to depict the situation of the Indian soldiers fighting the enemy under hostile conditions in the borders, Ketan says: “Well ‘Haqeeqat’ made in the earlier 1960s is entrenched in my mind. I watched the shooting in Kashmir, but we could not travel to Ladakh as special permission was required to go there.”

His film ‘Toote Khilone’ was made with the help of his relative Shekhar Kapur, who also acted in it. “Shekhar’s friend produced the film that also starred Shabana Azmi. Shekhar was a little awkward as an actor as he was not spontaneous and did not have the charisma to become a star. But he was very intelligent and Shabana told him to go in for direction. Then he made ‘Masoom’ and is now a reputed international filmmaker”.

Besides marketing DVD of his latest docu-drama, Ketan also plans to make a full-length feature film under the Himalaya Films banner and will also release ‘Haqeeqat’ in colour.

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