Legendary Dev Anand: The Handsome and Suave Evergreen Hero of Indian Cinema

The name Dev Anand brings in front of the eyes the handsome, smiling, and charming face of a young man from the black and white era who knew how to play with the eyes and woo his leading ladies in his typical Gregory Peck-style. Be it as a producer, director, or even an actor Dev Saab has left a huge legacy behind. As India celebrates his birth centenary on September 26, know some amazing facts about this highly sophisticated and suave evergreen hero of Indian cinema.

Graduate in English Literature

The early days of Dharam Dev Anand were spent in Gharota village, Gurdaspur district, Punjab. After completing his school education at Sacred Heart School in Dalhousie, he then completed his graduation in English Literature from Lahore’s Government College. Even in those days, he was one of the highly educated actors in Bollywood.

Worked as clerk during struggle period

With the dream of becoming an actor, 20-year-old Dev Anand came to Mumbai. But it was difficult to get a breakthrough as an actor initially and hence to make ends meet he used to work as an accountant at a firm for a meager salary of Rs 85. Later on, he started working at the Military Censor Office where the pay was almost double. He finally got his first break in movies with Hum Ek Hain in 1945.

Kishore Kumar and Dev Anand made their debut in the same film

Dev Anand was a big fan of Dadamoni aka Ashok Kumar. When Shaheed Latif introduced Dev to Ashok Kumar, the latter was very much impressed and decided to give him the leading role in his movie Ziddi. But he was more impressed with the Jewel Thief actor’s reply when Ashok Kumar asked him about his remuneration.

Dev Saab replied, “My fee will be people saying that you have given the industry a star.” But Ashok Kumar did not give only one but two stars to the industry with this film because Kishore Kumar was also introduced as a singer with Ziddi.

When Dev was banned from wearing black suit

Dev Anand was known for his stylish and rapid dialogue delivery, that typical hairstyle with a puff at the crown, and wearing sophisticated black suits. Women were so much in love with Dev’s sophisticated personality and charisma that they used to send him letters written in blood. That is why for many years he was banned from wearing black suits in public.

Suraiya and Dev love story

The first love of Dev Anand was Suraiya. The two acted in seven movies together and on the sets of Jeet Dev proposed Suraiya. Both of them were very much in love with each other but due to severe interference from Suraiya’s maternal grandmother who was dead against inter-religious marriage, they could not get married. While Dev eventually went on to marry his Taxi Driver co-star Kalpana Kartik, Suraiya remained single throughout her life with only one regret of not marrying the love of her life.