Goldie

Book excerpt: Known to the world as Goldie, Vijay Anand, the visionary Hindi film director and screenwriter, whose oeuvre includes such respected and successful films as Kala Bazaar, Tere Ghar Ke Saamne, Guide, Teesri Manzil, Jewel Thief, Johny Mera Naam, Tere Mere Sapne, Blackmail and Kora Kagaz, amongst many more, has remained largely uncelebrated. Goldie was one of the few ‘complete’ filmmakers in the Hindi film industry, who had the ability to look beyond stereotypes and help actors re-invent themselves. A rare non-filmy personality in the midst of the otherwise quite filmy industry folks, he always saw himself as a student and an explorer, and is credited with bringing newness and slickness to Hindi cinema. In his prolific career, Goldie directed 17 movies, acted in 19 and wrote over a dozen, many under the family banner—Navketan Films, established in 1949 by his two older brothers, the iconic star-actor Dev Anand, and director Chetan Anand. In Goldie: The Man and His Movies, which is the only published biography of this astoundingly talented filmmaker, Anitaa Padhye, film journalist and author, chronicles the life and times of this maverick artist, as narrated to her by the man himself over many meetings, prior to his sudden demise on 23 February 2004.