Dev Anand And The Women He Loved: Suraiya To Zeenat Aman

Dev Anand, who is well-known for his romantic films and songs, was also a romantic man in his private life. He had admitted in 2008 that he was "always in love."

New Delhi: Dev Anand, who is well-known for his romantic films and songs, was also a romantic man in his private life. He had admitted in 2008 that he was "always in love." He did, however, clarify that being constantly in love did not entail sleeping around with women with females for him. Three women in Dev Anand's life are known to have held special meaning for him: Zeenat Aman, Kalpana Kartik, his wife, and his first love, Suraiya.

Dev Anand and Suraiya

They fell in love and had a passionate romance while collaborating on films in the 1940s. He reportedly fell in love with her when she thanked him for saving her life after he pulled her from a river while filming a song, according to reports. She fell from the boat while they were filming Kinare Kinare Chale Jayen Ge for the movie Vidya, and he dove into the lake to save her.

Since they practised different religions, Suraiya's grandmother was opposed to the union from the start. Despite the criticism, the two lovers continued to meet and even made plans to elope. Due to pressure from her grandmother, they ultimately decided to call it quits. Suraiya didn't get married till her death at the age of 74.

In his autobiography Romancing with Life, Dev Anand disclosed information about his first love. He wrote, "I fell in love for the first time. We all know what first love does to a human being. Then the agony of not getting it. Suddenly hope was aroused after being encouraged, but again disillusionment crept in when nothing happened." Dev Anand and Suraiya worked in films such as Shair (1949), Jeet (1949), Afsar (1950), Do Sitare (1951) and Sanam (1951).

Dev Anand and Kalpana Kartik

After splitting from Suraiya, Dev Anand developed feelings for a different co-star. After working together in the movies for three years, his co-star Kalpana Kartik became his wife. They were married in 1954 and had a boy named Suneil Anand and a daughter named Devina.

Talking about her late husband, Kalpana told The Hindu in 2015, "He was a really caring husband and father. People feel we separated, but that is absolutely false. Dev is very much in my heart even today, smiling and guiding me as only he can. I just cannot believe that he is no more. To me, he is always Dev Anand my husband, right from our midnight marriage on the sets of Taxi Driver in 1954.”

Dev Anand and Zeenat Aman

Later, while producing the movie Hare Rama Hare Krishna with Zeenat Aman, Dev Anand fell in love with her. He writes in his memoirs, Romancing With Life "Whenever and wherever she was talked about glowingly, I loved it; and whenever and wherever I was discussed in the same vein, she was jubilant. In the subconscious, we had become emotionally attached to each other. Suddenly, one day I felt I was desperately in love with Zeenat – and wanted to say so to her.”

He added, "To make an honest confession, at a very special, exclusive place meant for romance. I chose the Rendezvous at the Taj, on top of the city, where we had dined together once earlier.” 

After witnessing Zeenat's adoration for Raj Kapoor, he never made a proposal to her. After the publication of Dev Anand's autobiography, Zeenat asserted that she was unaware of Dev's affections for her.