Dev Anand tells Shubha Shetty-Saha about how 61 years back he stood outside Taj as a struggling actor and vowed to have tea inside

The eternal star has come a long way since then. 61 years ago, when Dev Anand was struggling to become an actor in Mumbai, amongst other ambitions, one was to enter the heritage hotel, Taj and have tea there with his own money. Later, Dev Anand shot one of his films outside the hotel as a tribute to it.

Anand says, “It’s a terrible thing that has happened to the city and to the hotel. Everyone like me is feeling terribly helpless. Taj has always been my favourite hotel and I have thrown some really big parties there. I think Tatas are very sophisticated people. Taj has not been able to be pulled down because of its tremendous foundation. My personal condolences to Taj.”

Anand took special permission to shoot one of the scenes of his film, The Prime Minister, outside the Taj. He says, “It was my tribute to the great hotel. We shot a rap song outside the hotel and I was in tears by the time the shoot got over, because of the tremendous enthusiasm and support that we received,” he says.

Remembering his struggling days, he says. “Once I landed in Mumbai, I went to see the Taj and the Gateway of India. One of my desires was to have tea inside the Taj and it was more than fulfilled in later years,” he says.

Dev Anand dubs the terrorist attack as terribly unfortunate and thinks we need to do some constructive effort to bring the culprits to book.