NEW DELHI: India’s studious prime minister Manmohan Singh flirted with Bollywood film glamour on Wednesday to celebrate his 75th birthday.

Singh took to the stage to launch the autobiography of India’s legendary romantic actor and director Dev Anand, “Romancing with life.”It proved a rare play of contrasts as the shy and reluctant politician exchanged glowing tributes with the worldly hero of countless Hindi song-and-dance hits.

“He’s never done this before, and may never again,” Singh’s spokesman Sanjaya Baru said. “He’s a very private person.” The prime minister, flanked by Congress party president Sonia Gandhi, read from a prepared speech as befits an Oxford and Cambridge-trained economist.

“I’m not a regular movie-goer,” Singh admitted in his trademark deadpan delivery. “But I do know one fact -- wherever you go in the world the Indian film industry has made itself felt.

“The sun never sets on Indian films,” he said, lauding Dev Anand as the quintessential debonair star.

Resplendent in a green velvet jacket and matching trousers over a bright yellow shirt, Dev Anand gave an extempore performance punctuated with laughter and applause from the selected audience at the prime minister’s official residence.

He brandished the book for all to see. “I assure you it’s not for self-publicity,” quipped the actor.

It was his birthday too -- an astonishing 84 years old and still fit, sharp-minded and working.

Despite the stark contrasts in their lives, Singh and Dev share humble beginnings in the trauma of the break-up of the subcontinent in 1947. Both their families left their homes in present-day Pakistan for India and rose from anonymity.—AFP