The golden era of Bollywood featured numerous actors who captivated audiences with their performances. From Shammi Kapoor Dev Anand and Rajendra Kumar Tuli to many more these actors made a lasting impact on the industry. However do you know that as much as these actors were adored there were also directors in the film industry who played a crucial role in shaping their careers and turning them into iconic brands? While this may sound surprising it is indeed a fact. In the 1950s actors in the Hindi film industry such as Dev Anand and Shammi Kapoor had unique on-screen styles that were loved by audiences. Recently in a conversation with veteran screenwriter and lyricist Javed Akhtar the transformation of these two actors was discussed. During a conversation with Aamir Khan at the Aamir Khan: Magician of Cinema film festival the legendary screenwriter spoke about Dev Anand and Shammi Kapoor and revealed the name of the person responsible for their transformation. He credited veteran and late director Nasir Hussain—known for films like Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota Hai Tumsa Nahin Dekha Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak and Yaadon Ki Baaraat—for shaping their on-screen personas. Nasir was recognized for showcasing Shammi’s distinctive qualities on screen and was regarded as the filmmaker who played a key role in making him a star. In the same conversation Javed recalled that before joining hands with Nasir Shammi was a completely different person. However everything changed after he made Tumsa Nahin Dekha. “Shammi Kapoor used to have a moustache and a different hairstyle. He changed Shammi’s image in Tumsa Nahin Dekha. All of this youthfulness the bubbliness in films and elements that people still try to incorporate today—it was invented by him. It did not exist before him” Akhtar said. On the other hand when Javed Sahab spoke about Dev Anand he stated that Anand’s on-screen image was crafted by Nasir Hussain who wrote two of Dev’s films—1955’s Munimji and 1957’s Paying Guest. Javed said “Dev Anand became Dev Anand after Nasir Saab’s films Munimji and Paying Guest. The image of Dev Anand that we know today... Dev Anand was initially a very conventional actor. There was a film that Dev Anand did—I am forgetting its name—it featured two friends. One was a playboy and the other was a Gandhian. The role of the playboy was played by Manmohan Krishna while Dev Saab portrayed the Gandhian.” Speaking about Nasir Javed heaped praises on the late director and described him as one of the most underrated and underrecognized producer-directors in the film industry.