Today is the 98th birth anniversary of the legendary actor Dev Anand, and on this occasion, let’s recall his journey. Here are some interesting facts about him.
- Dev Anand’s inspiration for becoming an actor was another legendary actor, Ashok Kumar. He was inspired after watching his performance in films like Achhut Kanya and Kismat.
- In a career span of 65 years, in which he did 114 Bollywood films, Anand starred as the lead hero in 104 of them.
- As per the reports, the actor used to look so handsome in Blackcoat that a girl allegedly ended her life after being mesmerised by Dev Anand’s look. In a report by Amar Ujala, it has been mentioned that the Bombay High Court had to put a ban on the black coloured coat for Dev Sahib in order to avoid any mishappenings.
- Dev Anand played the lead in “The Evil Within, a Indo-Filipino English film which was distributed by 20th Century Fox. But alas, it never got a release in his home country.
- Very few people are aware of the fact that Dev Anand was the original choice for films like Subodh Mukherjee’s Junglee and Nasir Hussain’s Teesri Manzil but the actor turned down both the offers owing to differences with the makers.
- The Dev-Suraiya romance began when shooting the film Vidya. While filming the song Kinare kinare chale jaayenge on a boat, the boat capsized. Living up to his heroic image, Dev rescued her and wanted to marry her.
- Dev proposed to Suraiya on the sets of the film Jeet with a diamond ring worth Rs 3,000, but Suraiya’s maternal grandmother was strongly opposed to the inter-religious romance. As a result Suraiya remained unmarried all her life.
- Dev Anand was a politically active film star. He opposed the Emergency imposed by the then prime minister of India, Indira Gandhi. He campaigned against her and even formed a party National Party of India, which he disbanded later.
- Dev Anand was honoured with the Padma Bhushan in 2001 and Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2002 for his contribution to Indian cinema.
- Dev Anand has directed 19 films and produced 35 films, of which, 7 directorial ventures and 18 films respectively were commercially successful at the box office. He wrote the story for 13 of his films.
- Dev Anand died in his room at The Washington Mayfair Hotel in London at the age of 88 on December 3, 2011 (December 4, 2011 by Indian Standard Time) of a cardiac arrest. He was reportedly in London for a medical check up at the time of his death.
ALSO READ: Sneha Dubey: Know all about India’s first secretary at UN
(For more updates stay tuned with DNP India)
- Advertisement -
