Dev Anand, for his chocolate-charmer part, had discerned, early in his screen life, that the middle course was best for him where it came to taking on emerging thespians like Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor.
Gemini's Insaniyat (1955) only further convinced Dev Anand that it was best to keep his screen distance from these two scene-stealers. S S Vasan's highly lavishly mounted Insaniyat initially had Bharat Bhooshan playing opposite Dilip Kumar for the hand of Bina Rai (enjoying her own special screen status following the trail blazed by her as Anarkali (1953).
Bharat Bhooshan might have presented the aspect of a namby-pamby hero in his later films following Baiju Bawra (1952). But his stature was still high as he signed for Insaniyat opposite Dilip Kumar. For Bharat Bhooshan had just been bestowed with the 1954 Filmfare Best Actor award for the empathy with which he had essayed the title role in Vijay Bhatt's Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. But he politely opted out of Insaniyat when he saw that the film's screenplay was heavily slanted in favour of Dilip Kumar.
So that Dev Anand actually signed -- on the Insaniyat dotted line -- for the big money S S Vasan was offering him for doing the Bharat Bhooshan role in Insaniyat. But, on the sets, Dev Anand discovered that the film's script did not give him any sort of a chance opposite Dilip Kumar.
Elder brother Chetan Anand's wife, Uma Anand ('Aunty Wendy' in The Illustrated Weekly Of India), had even told me about how Dev Anand felt shocked to discover Dilip Kumar to be 'such a selfish performer on the Insaniyat sets' as to leave him with no room for acting manoeuvre at all.
I mention such a happening in detail because it was after Insaniyat that Dev Anand made it a discreet point to steer clear of Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor. This Dev Anand did by building his own inimitable persona as one of The Triumvirate.
Also Read: Dev Anand, 80
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