THEY were Bollywood�s hit pair of the Swinging Seventies, Dev Anand and Zeenat Aman. He was already a star, but the Nutans and Mala Sinhas and Waheeda Rehmans of his genre were getting too old for him. And Dev Saab, like an ageing emperor in search of the nectar that would give him life without end, was looking for a young actress to work opposite him in his next home production. Somebody who would match his youth, his charm, his style, his flair for dancing in the meadows and singing in the hills, his good looks. Somebody for Hare Rama Hare Krishna.

For six months, Dev Saab didn�t find any woman. Then he met Miss Asia Zeenat Aman and told people, �That�s the girl!� He made Hare Rama Hare Krishna with her and followed it up with Heera Panna, Ishq Ishq Ishq and Warrant.

Then, still in search of young blood, he went on to discover Tina Munim, Richa Sharma and others. And 30 years later, he�s still doing it. Finding new talent for Bollywood, active as ever with his home productions, making one film every two, three years. But people have not stopped talking about how good Dev Anand and Zeenat Aman looked in Hare Rama Hare Krishna!

They agreed to come together once again for UpperCrust. Zeenat did, first. Then Dev Saab, who was mystified. The idea was to bring out the writer in her, make her talk to her old mentor, find out what made Dev Saab tick.

What kept him going for all these years? What was the potion for his evergreen status in the film industry? How he did he manage to remain so sprightly and active with life and his work, when men considerably younger than him were complaining about their galloping old age and talking about retiring? Was it his continuing romance with the leading ladies of his kind of cinema? What was the secret of his indefatigable energy? His amazing zest for life? Was Dev Saab like Hrithik Roshan, and onto a diet of health supplements and gruelling exercise schedules? Or was he like Sunny Deol, who ate and drank heartily in true Jat fashion, then worked hard and partied harder, before sweating it out in a gym? Maybe he was the badam-pista and milk-honey type, the early-to-bed-early-to-rise kind, who counted the day lost into which he had not squeezed in 30 minutes of meditation and 45 of jogging.

Surprisingly Zeenat, who has worked with Dev Saab more than any other Bollywood actress, knew little about his eating and drinking habits. But she agreed to have a stab at finding out all about him for UpperCrust.

They came together at Sidewalk, the coffee shop at Holiday Inn in Juhu, where the younger stars of today gather most evenings to discuss work. Dev Anand came first, probably because he lived next door, a flamboyant and jaunty figure in navy courdroys turned up at the cuffs, a bright green shirt and over that, his trademark denim jacket. From beneath the rolled up trousers peeped green socks that disappeared into brown laced-up shoes. He swung a pair of sunglasses in one hand and a denim cap in the other. A more colourful figure, the Sidewalk have yet to see.

Pausing to wish the ladies at the nearby tables, Dev Saab slipped easily into the chair reserved for him. �How did you manage to get Zeenat,� he asked, a quizzical expression on his clear, unlined face. Then as the lady herself sashayed into the coffee shop, he burst out into applause: �Her she is, Zeenat Aman, so elegant, so beautiful, so wonderfully turned out!� Zeenat, wearing a simple but stylishly cut black trouser and blouse suit, blushed and said: �Just look at him, just look at him!� And in the background, the music changed from western classical to Dum Maro Dum...

Dev: She�s a cult figure still. People tell me they see Hare Rama Hare Krishna just for her! Zeenat: He�s been such an important part of my life. Driving here, I was thinking back nostalgically of Nepal, of Hare Rame Hare Krishna. And of Heera Panna.

Dev: That swimsuit scene of yours in Heera Panna... But I like her performance in Ishq Ishq Ishq far better. So mature. But yet the picture didn�t do well!

Zeenat: Fifteen years in showbiz, whatever I learnt, I learnt from him. His way of working, his lifestyle, he�s been the cornerstone for my foundation.

Dev: I remember when she gave an audition at Filmistan Studios, she came wearing round sun goggles that she left behind. I still have them with me! What great days in Nepal! Zeenat getting to be famous. Zeenat getting to be inaccessible. And why not? Maybe some day if I have a good script...

Zeenat: I�m so delighted to see him. You�re looking great, Dev Saab! How do you do it? Dev: I have the same habits I had when I landed in Bombay for a job. Physically, you change. And mentally, tempermentally, you change to keep pace with the years. But your emotions remain the same. You become more mature, grow more wiser.

Zeenat: He�s a living legend! But Dev Saab, your eating habits... Dev: I�ve always been a shallow eater. I go to restaurants for the sake of company, not for food. I�m not a restaurant man. You won�t catch me saying, �Chalo, aaj bahar khana khate hai!� If I�m taking someone out, it�s generally a Chinese restaurant. Otherwise, the people at home know what I like best.

Zeenat: He�s always been a light eater. I can�t remember what he ate the first time he took me out to dinner at Sun-n-Sand, but it couldn�t have been much. On sets, on location, I remember he would take time out to do light exercise even when it was not fashionable to work out. He was always very disciplined about food and exercise. All his timings were modulated. When he was working, there was no question of time. The creative process in him just flowed. And I cannot remember him ever having a drink.

Dev: I do have a drink, it�s not taboo, at the most a glass of beer when socialising. But I don�t miss it otherwise. Wines, I don�t understand. I cut a sorry figure when people say, �Yeh French wine lao! Woh Italian wine lao!� I don�t know wine names. I�m not a connoisseur. But I once went to a winery in London in a small township where people were walking in to just taste some of the great wines of the world. And they were doing this with tremendous gusto! Enjoying themselves. I watched them. I thought there was great cinema in that scene!

Zeenat: See, you can�t take the ciname out of Dev Saab! I don�t know where he gets his energy from! Dev: Energy? I eat what I need. A good breakfast same as you. Milk, toast with butter, eggs twice a week, some cereals. I skip lunch. In the afternoon, I have tea with biscuits. Then by dinner time, I am hungry. I have a regular Punjabi dinner at home. Chicken, vegetables, dal, bhatura, all cooked well and in the normal way. With plenty of oil and ghee! I eat heartily. This habit has stayed with me. I go to bed by 1.30 a.m. or 2. This is very bad. And I get up at an hour depending upon what I am doing the next morning. But I like to work late at night. Most of my thinking is done then. I switch on the TV and slip into a working trance. You see, I�m in love with what I was in love with for long time. Making films.

Zeenat: That�s the essence of Dev Saab. He looks for incidents, he looks at people�s characteristics, he looks for situations... anything he can put to use in his next film.

Dev: Yes, like in my new film. It�s a love story in Times Square. Why a love story? Everybody wants to be loved! You go to Times Square in New York on Saturday evening at 9 p.m. to see what love is all about. Something happened to me there 32 years ago before Hare Rama Hare Krishna. And I connected with it, developed it, and am making that film now. On the millennium eve, for seven hours with an American unit and standing in one spot, I shot the beginning of my love story. I even got Muhammad Ali coming there to switch on the lights. Then two years later, after September 11, I shot the climax at Time Square again. It�s a contemporary film, it�s got two young boys, Shoeb and Chaitanya, the stars of tomorrow, and Heeni Kaushik. There�s a fantastic theme song by Adnan Sami. And Lucky Ali has done three numbers. Give me three, four months for editing, who knows, I might release it in Times Square on New Year�s eve again!

Zeenat: I got all the news. I believe your unit was freezing during the last shoot there!

Dev: When you are passionate about your work and are feeling charged about it, you don�t worry about health! This is it, you think. Even eating is secondary. You eat because you�re hungry. I eat what suits me. Alcohol and cold drinks don�t suit me. Hot water does, that�s why I hang on to it.

Dev Saab�s glass of hot water is lying untouched and Zeenat Aman�s iced tea. The two are feeding happily on the magical chemistry, the great vibes, that are sizzling between them all over again. They get up to go for a walk by the Holiday Inn poolside, Dev Saab with a spring in his step that was not there when he came in, bounds forward gallantly to open the coffee shop door for the lovely and statuesque Zeenat. They are talking about cooking. And they sit at a table and call for narial pani.

Dev: I can�t cook. Thrown into a room full of raw products, I won�t be miserable. I can survive on salads. Give me a tamatar. Give me an aloo. A gobi. I�ll be okay. But I can�t cook. Never took the time to learn. And I never wanted to learn cooking when there was so much more to learn. I can get good food anywhere I want. Even at Zeenat�s house!

Zeenat: I�m not into food. I can�t cook, but lately, I�ve been inquiring about recipes and things. Even when we used to shoot, the unit food was food from the hotel where we were staying. Wholesome Indian khana. It varied because there were so many people of the sets. I preferred to carry sandwiches.

Dev: On the sets of Hare Rama Hare Krishna in Nepal, we took cooks and set up a langar. Meals were cooked according to people�s tastes. In the minus 20 degrees cold of the mountains, it was nice to come back to a hot meal. That�s when you enjoy food most, when you are hungry.

Zeenat: Isn�t he really the evergreen actor?

Dev: Evergreen kiya hota hai! For a change, in my love story in Times Square I�m playing the father!