ACTOR
Dev Anand
99 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (99)
- #001
Dev Anand was the highest-paid Indian actor from 1957 to 1964 and the second highest-paid Indian actor from 1965 to 1975.
- #002
From 1957 onward, Dev Anand held the record for the most solo-hero Indian films, with 40 solo-hero films at the time and 90 solo-hero films by 1985, the maximum number for an Indian hero. Rajesh Khanna broke Dev Anand's record in 1987, and by the end of 1987 Rajesh Khanna was the only Indian hero with the maximum number of solo-hero films (films in which the entire film revolves around his character while others support it), with 92 released films and 14 two-hero films.
- #003
Dev Anand and Nutan formed a popular on-screen pair.
- #004
Dev Anand is the only lead actor in the world whose career spanned 80 years, from the 1940s to 2011.
- #005
Dev Anand's granddaughter is Gina Narang, the daughter of Devina Anand Narang. Gina is a well-known name in the fashion and photography world. She has worked in photography and currently runs a successful talent management agency called A Little Fly. She has won many awards for her photography and for the agency's performance.
- #006
Dev Anand was the brother of Vijay Anand.
- #007
Dev was one of four brothers in a lawyer's family in India. After graduating with a degree in English from Government College in Lahore, India, he moved to Bombay (now Mumbai) in 1943.
- #008
Dev Anand was the uncle of Hollywood/Bollywood director Shekhar Kapur. Dev's sister is Shekhar's mother.
- #009
In the late 1990s, Dev Anand wanted to cast Mumtaz's daughter Natasha in a film. Mumtaz turned down the offer because her husband did not want their daughters to act.
- #010
Dev Anand was survived by his wife Kalpana Kartik, his son Suneil Anand and his daughter Devina Anand. He was the younger brother of Chetan Anand, with whom he founded a film production company called Navketan.
- #011
Dev Anand was the grand-uncle of Purab Kohli (son of Hersh Kohli).
- #012
Dara Singh sent a marriage proposal for his eldest daughter to Dev Anand's son Suneil. Dev accepted the proposal, but it was Suneil who refused. This was in 1986. The person who brought the proposal to Dev was the actor Jankidas.
- #013
Dev Anand's first look-alike copy was Sev Anand. Sev appeared in the films Parivar (1968) and Om Shanti Om.
- #014
Dev Anand was the uncle of Ketan Anand.
- #015
Dev Anand was the father of Suneil Anand.
- #016
Dev Anand was the brother of Chetan Anand.
- #017
Dev Anand was the uncle of Bollywood actor/director Bhisham Kohli. Bhisham appeared in several films under the screen name Vishal Anand. Bhisham was the son of Dev's sister Savitri (Kanti).
- #018
Dev Anand's niece Neelam is the former partner of Bollywood legend Navin Nischol. Dev's sister Sheela is Neelam's mother. Neelam is also the sister of Shekhar Kapur.
- #019
Dev Anand was the uncle of actress, writer, director and journalist Sohaila Kapur (Kapoor). Sohaila is the daughter of Dev's sister Sheela. Sohaila is also the sister of Neelam Kapoor, who married Navin Nischol. Sohaila's brother is Shekhar Kapur.
- #020
Dev Anand's cousin Vishwamitra Anand was the father of director Gogi Anand.
- #021
Dev Anand was the former brother-in-law of actress Uma Anand, who was Chetan Anand's wife.
- #022
Dev Anand's son Suneil Anand never married and has no children.
- #023
Dev Anand was the grand-uncle of actor Surya Rishi Anand, who is Chetan Anand's grandson and Vivek Anand's son.
- #024
Dev Anand was the uncle of producer and director Hersh Kolhi, his sister's son.
- #025
Dev Anand was the uncle of producer Yash Kohli, brother of Bisham and Hersh. Yash is the son of Dev Anand's sister Savitri (Kanti). Yash later tried to launch his son Sanjay in the film "Target" starring Dev Anand, in 1992.
- #026
Dev Anand's daughter Devina divorced her first husband Bobby Narang a few years after they married. His real name is Rajesh Narang, and he is the brother of the well-known businessman Ramesh Narang (famous for his relationship with Zarina Wahab) and of Rico (Rakesh Narang).
- #027
Dev Anand had a younger sister named Sarita (Bonnie) Sareen (Sarin), who lives in Surrey, England. She is married to Raj Sarin, and they have a son named Tony Sareen (Sarin).
- #028
Dev Anand's granddaughter Gina Narang moved to Boston in the United States in 2011 to study, and later to New York to study film and photography. She then decided to become a fashion photographer and eventually founded a talent management company called A Little Fly.
- #029
Dev Anand's granddaughter Gina Narang is married to Angad Marwah, a Mumbai businessman. They have two children together and live between Mussoorie and Mumbai.
- #030
Dev Anand's grand-niece is named Rima Kohli. She is Hersh Kohli's daughter and Purab Kohli's sister. Purab Kohli's segment in the film "I Am" was based on her experiences. Rima wrote several blogs online about her experiences in Afghanistan.
- #031
Dev Anand had four sisters in total: two older and two younger. One is married to a doctor and one to a lawyer.
- #032
Dev Anand has an actor with a similar name, Sev Anand.
- #033
Dev Anand wanted to launch Hema Malini's youngest daughter, Ahana Deol, in the film "Beauty Queen". Hema turned down the offer.
- #034
Amit Khanna was producing a film called "Naya Johnny" in 1979, starring Dev Anand, Shammi Kapoor (who replaced Sanjeev Kumar), Hema Malini (later replaced by Salma Agha), Tina Munim, Sajid Khan, Kaajal Kiran, Gautam Sarin, Amjad Khan, Om Shivpuri and Girish Karnad, with music by Bappi Lahiri and direction by Surindra Suri. The film was postponed repeatedly; Hema Malini dropped out, Sanjeev Kumar followed due to health problems, and the director also left the film. Dev Anand stepped in and decided that the film would now be produced with Amit Khanna in the director's chair. In 1981 Hema Malini's role went to Salma Agha, and there were reports that Salma Agha recorded all her songs in her own voice. The film was ultimately shelved.
- #035
Dev Anand starred in the shelved Navketan film "Hum Teeno" (1980/1981), alongside Hema Malini, Suneil Anand and Raj Babbar, directed by Gogi Anand. It was to be Suneil's debut. Dev later decided to scrap the film.
- #036
Dev Anand's siblings' names are Savitri Kohli, Chandrakanta, Sheila Kanta Kapur, Bonnie Sareen (Lata) and Usha.
- #037
Dev Anand had a sister named Usha Madhok.
- #038
Dev Anand's sister Usha Madhok is married to Dr. Prithvi Madhok, the son of director D. N. Madhok. Prithvi has two daughters: Priyam Bhitija (married to Deepak) and Alka Puri (who lives in San Jose, California).
- #039
Dev Anand's sister Bonnie Sareen is married to Raj Sareen. Actor Gautam Sarin is a relative of Raj Sarin, possibly a younger brother.
- #040
Dev Anand's grand-niece is named Monisha Anand. Monisha is the granddaughter of Dev's brother Manmohan Anand. She is married to Zubie Anand, who works at the world-famous RBC bank. They are currently based in Ottawa, Canada.
- #041
Dev Anand's nephew is named Puneet Madhok. He is the son of Dev's sister Usha and Prithvi Madhok.
- #042
Dev Anand's nephew Tony Sarin (Bonnie's son) is currently Chairman of Quercus Enterprises, a multi-million-pound commercial real estate investment and development company. Tony is also a non-executive director of Coinsilium plc, a publicly listed blockchain technology investment and development company, and a prolific angel investor with a proven track record of helping small companies grow. Tony is also chairman of our Restaurants & Hotels and Travel sector groups. If Tony had not been an accountant, he would have been a professional golfer or actor.
- #043
He acted in Navketan's shelved film Hijack (1988). The cast included Dev Anand, Meenakshi Sheshadri, Amrish Puri, Ranjeet and Saniya; music was by Bappi Lahiri, and Dev Anand wrote, produced and directed it.
- #044
He acted in Mushir Riaz's shelved film Tijori (1977). Dev Anand played the lead, the music was by Laxmikant Pyarelal, and Raj Khosla directed.
- #045
He acted in Anand Pal's shelved film Pilot (1956). Dev Anand and Namita Sinha played the lead roles.
- #046
He acted in the shelved film Raksha (1977). The leads were Dev Anand, Hema Malini and Amjad Khan; the music was by Laxmikant Pyarelal, the producer was Sham Behl and the director was T Prakash Rao.
- #047
He acted in Navketan's shelved film Accident (1977). The leads were Dev Anand, Praveen Babi, Kabir Bedi, Katy Mirza, Nirupa Roy and Amjad Khan; the music was by Rahul Dev Burman, and Dev Anand and Gogi Anand produced it, with Gogi Anand directing.
- #048
He acted in the shelved Mercury Productions film Mr. John (1975). The leads were Dev Anand, Rekha, Yogita Bali, Anil Dhawan, Pradeep Kumar, Ajit, Pran, Mehmood and Sulochana; the music was by Usha Khanna, and Sawan Kumar Tak produced and directed.
- #049
He acted in Navketan's shelved film Hum Teeno (1981). The cast included Dev Anand, Hema Malini, Suneil Anand, Smita Patil, Raj Babbar and Vidya Sinha; the writer was Suraj Sanim, the music was by Rahul Dev Burman, and Gogi Anand and Mahesh Bhatt directed. This was to have been Suneil Anand's debut.
- #050
He acted in Nalanda's shelved film Nawab Aur Shabab (Nawab Aur Sharab) (1976). The cast included Dev Anand, Sunil Dutt, Sanjeev Kumar, Zeenat Aman, Amjad Khan and Prem Chopra; the music was by Laxmikant Pyarelal, Amarjeet produced and Raj Khosla directed.
- #051
He acted in Rajkala's shelved film Kamyaab (1976). The leads were Dev Anand and Rekha; the music was by Laxmikant Pyarelal, the producer was Raj Kala and the director was Raj Rishi. The film was shelved because the producers did not pay the studio for the shoot.
- #052
He acted in the shelved Moon Beam Movies film Dev Dharam Dhanraj (1976). The leads were Dev Anand (in a triple role), Hema Malini and Prem Chopra; the music was by Kalyanji Anandji and the director was Brij Sadanah.
- #053
In 1983 Dev Anand signed Hrishikesh Mukherjee under the Navketan banner. He was to direct Dev Anand and Kushboo in a father-daughter story. The film was shelved.
- #054
He acted in Maya Movietone's shelved film Maharathi (1980). The cast included Dev Anand, Jeetendra, Zeenat Aman, Reena Roy and Amjad Khan; the music was by Laxmikant Pyarelal and the director was Kalidas.
- #055
Dev Anand and Kamal Haasan were to make the shelved Tahiti Productions film Do Diwane Pyar Mein (1982/1983). The cast included Dev Anand, Kamal Haasan, Reena Roy, Ranjeeta Kaur and Smita Patil (Padmini Kohlapure and Poonam Dhillon were also attached to the film at one point). The music was by Kalyanji Anandji. It was to be made by producer-director Prakash Verma, who wrote the story of Loot Maar. Dev Anand insisted that he had only given verbal approval and had not yet heard the story or received the signing amount. Dev merely said 'okay' to him about the film. Verma, however, told the media that he had obtained the dates of all the lead actors.
- #056
In the early 1960s it was said that Dev Anand's family wanted Dev's sister to marry Raaj Kumar. The match did not work out.
- #057
His nephew was the producer Acha Anand. He was the son of his brother Manmohan Anand. Manmohan Anand had written the lyrics for Chetan Anand's Neecha Nagar (1946). Acha Anand worked as a production controller on Navketan productions. He died of liver cirrhosis on 26 November 1994. He was in Delhi for the shooting of his film Amar Vijay. He had worked as a secretary to Shabana Azmi, Jackie Shroff and Rajesh Khanna. He was survived by his mother, wife and two daughters.
- #058
He acted in Navketan's shelved film Ek Tha Raja (1974). The leads were Dev Anand, Hema Malini, Jeevan and Sunil Thapa; the music was by Rahul Dev Burman, Dev Anand produced and Chetan Anand directed.
- #059
In 1975, Dev Anand flew to New York, USA, to complete Reynold Massey's film "The Immigrants". The project fell through.
- #060
Dev Anand starred in Orly International's shelved film "Target" (1992). The cast included Dev Anand, Sanjay Kohli (son of Dev Anand's nephew Yash Kohli), Tanaaz, Shakti Kapoor, Kader Khan, Sreeprdha and Kunika, with lyrics by Dev Kohli, music by Raam Laxman and direction by Ashok Tyagi. The film was first being made in 1981: Pashupati Pictures Pvt Ltd's "Target" starred Dev Anand, Shatrughan Sinha, Rekha and Amjad Khan, with music by Rahul Dev Burman, produced by Yash Kohli (whose son Sanjay would act in the new 1992 Target film) and directed by Gogi Anand.
- #061
Dev Anand starred in the shelved Vishesh Films film "Ab Mere Bari" (1981). The cast included Dev Anand, Rishi Kapoor, Parveen Babi, Tina Munium, Dr. Shreeram Lagoo, Ranjeet and Amjad Khan, with writing by Suraj Sanim, music by Bappi Lahiri, production by Mukesh Bhatt and direction by Mahesh Bhatt.
- #062
Dev Anand starred in the shelved film "Parda Faash" (1989), produced by Soham Bhatia and directed by Kader Kashmiri.
- #063
In 1980, Dev Anand kept asking Ramsay to make the film "Om" with him. It was a remake of "The Omen". In the end it was shot with Rajesh Khanna. The film was shelved.
- #064
In 1989, Anil Sharma signed Dev Anand for Shantketan Films' "The Godfather". Dev was to play the lead. The music was by Annu Malik, the producer was K. C. Sharma, and Anil Sharma wrote and directed. The project was shelved.
- #065
Dev Anand starred in the shelved Rajkala's film "Vakil Saheb" (Kamyaab) (1974). The cast included Dev Anand, Rekha, Leena Chandavarkar and Sujit Kumar, with music by Laxmikant - Pyarelal and production and direction by Raj Rishi.
- #066
Dev Anand starred in the shelved film "Mr. Hitler" (1966). The cast included Dev Anand and Saira Banu, with music by Shankar Jaikishen and production and direction by Subodh Mukherjee.
- #067
Dev Anand starred in the shelved film "Bhookh" (1969), written and directed by Vijay Anand.
- #068
Dev Anand starred in the shelved Nalanda's film "Jackpot" (1973). The lead was played by Dev Anand, with Zeenat Aman and Pran, music by Rahul Dev Burman, and production and direction by Amarjeet.
- #069
Dev Anand starred in the shelved Navketan's film "Purana Paapi" (1991). The cast included Dev Anand, Amitabh Bachchan, Hema Malini, Meenakshi Sheshadri and Anupam Kher, with music by Bappi Lahiri, and Dev Anand as writer, producer and director.
- #070
In 2002, Dev Anand was planning a project titled RAJMAHAL KA HATYAKAND about the royal massacre in Nepal. The film was shelved.
- #071
Dev Anand starred in the shelved Tanushushree Films film "Dynamite" (1985), in which he played the lead. The music was by Bappi Lahri, and the producer and director was Jagdish Kader.
- #072
Dev Anand starred in the shelved film "Kaafir" (1965). The cast included Dev Anand, Geeta Bali, Priya Rajvansh and Balraj Sahni, with music by Khayyam and production and direction by Chetan Anand.
- #073
Dev Anand's nephew Siddhartha "Kaka" Anand worked as a production controller at Navketan. He also produced Maine Jeena Seekh Liya (1982). Siddhartha was the younger brother of director Gogi Anand. Their father, Vishwamitra, was Dev's cousin.
- #074
Unlike most of his contemporaries, Dev Anand and his good friend and screen legend Raj Kapoor were among the few leading actors who never played a negative role. However, Anand did portray anti-heroes and characters in shades of grey in films such as Baazi (1951), Jaal (1952), Taxi Driver (1954), Kala Bazaar (1960) and Gambler (1972).
- #075
Dev Anand's nephew Acha Anand was producing the shelved Creative Arts film "Amar Vijay" (1994). The cast included Dharmendra, Raj Babbar, Ayub Khan, Varsha Usgaonkar and Tinnu Anand, with music by Anu Malik, production by Acha Anand (Dev Anand's nephew) and direction by Ketan Anand.
- #076
Dev Anand was the second person to receive the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award after Amitabh Bachchan. The honour was presented to him at the 1993 Filmfare ceremony by his close friend and long-time collaborator, the legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar. The award is also known as the Raj Kapoor Memorial Award and was given in 1991 in memory of Anand's contemporary and good friend Raj Kapoor.
- #077
Dev Anand's iconic bungalow in Mumbai's exclusive Pali Hill suburb was gifted to him by the legendary industrialist Henning Larsen, co-founder of the multi-billion-dollar global engineering giant Larsen & Toubro, a long-time Bollywood fan and one of Anand's biggest admirers. In 2010, however, Anand's son Suniel was reportedly insistent on selling the bungalow as part of a deal worth 2.8 billion INR (70 million USD as of 2021) with an unnamed construction tycoon. The deal was cancelled after Anand's death in December 2011.
- #078
The son of a practising lawyer, Dev Anand ironically died on 3 December, India's National Lawyers' Day, which commemorates the birth anniversary of India's first President, Dr. Rajendra Prasad. Anand himself was a good friend of Dr. Prasad.
- #079
With the exception of Charan Singh, Vice President Singh, Chandrashekhar and H. D. Deve Gowda, Dev Anand was good friends with every Prime Minister of India during his lifetime; his relationship with Indira Gandhi, however, soured because of her authoritarian actions and the declaration of the Emergency, and he was disillusioned by the ineffective policies of Morarji Desai, who became Prime Minister while Anand was campaigning for the Janata Party's pro-democracy movement. Anand was also good friends with Narendra Modi, who became Prime Minister in 2014, three years after Anand's death, and who during his tenure as Gujarat Chief Minister had named GUIDE (1965) as his personal favourite film.
- #080
A health fanatic, Dev Anand never weighed more than 140-145 pounds in his life, which is also the standard weight for people standing at his height of 5 feet 10 inches, while his contemporaries Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor became overweight in the early 1970s. In his final years, however, Anand lost excessive weight because of his ongoing film activities and weighed only 100 pounds when he died. In those last years he also appeared to be only 5 feet 6 inches tall, having shrunk as a result of ageing.
- #081
In an interview with Arnab Goswami on TIMES NOW in the late 2000s, Dev Anand stated plainly that he had no regrets about missing out on the many Best Actor awards he deserved from Filmfare, but that he should have received the Dadasaheb Phalke Award from the Government of India before 2001.
- #082
Dev Anand was accompanied by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee at the inauguration of the Delhi-Lahore Bus Service as a diplomatic peace initiative. He was personally received by Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
- #083
Extremely athletic since his school days, Dev Anand was very keen on lawn tennis and, by his own admission, was terrible at it.
- #084
The master acting legend Balraj Sahni once said that Dev Anand had the lowest chance of succeeding in Bollywood. To Sahni's great astonishment, Anand became a dominant star in the late 1950s. Ironically, Anand regarded Sahni and his contemporary Ashok Kumar as his acting idols.
- #085
For the sports thriller AWWAL NUMBER (1990), Dev Anand offered the role of the antagonist Ranveer Singh to Imran Khan, then captain of the Pakistan national cricket team. Khan turned down the request, stating that he had never acted in a stage play and that appearing in a film would therefore be beyond his scope. The role eventually went to Aditya Pancholi, the lead actor of Anand's action hit LASKHAR (1987).
- #086
Although Dev Anand was good friends with both Sunil and Nargis Dutt, he disapproved of his daughter Devina going on car rides with their son Sanjay, who had been notorious for his drug addiction since the late 1970s.
- #087
Dev Anand, Rajesh Khanna and producer-director Yash Chopra were regarded as three of Indian cinema's greatest romantic icons. All three died within a year of one another: Anand in December 2011, Khanna (aged 69) in July 2012 and Chopra (aged 80) in October 2012.
- #088
At the time of his death, Dev Anand's estate was valued at over 60 million dollars.
- #089
Dev Anand appeared 16 times on Box-Office India's list of top actors.
- #090
In a Filmfare poll of Bollywood's most stylish men, Dev Anand ranked third, after Shammi Kapoor and Dilip Kumar.
- #091
Actor Benjamin Gilani is the nephew of Dev Anand's wife, Kalpana Karthik.
- #092
To mark the centenary of his birth in 2023, four classics in which Dev Anand starred — C. I. D. (1956), GUIDE (1965), JEWEL THIEF (1968) and JOHNNY MERA NAAM (1970) — were released in 55 Indian cities on 23 and 24 September. The screenings of all the aforementioned films filled houses to capacity.
- #093
Even in the penultimate years of his life, Dev Anand earned close to 2-3 million dollars a year from the state-of-the-art sound design and recording facility he had set up at his production company, Navketan.
- #094
Dev Anand regarded screen legend Waheeda Rehman as his favourite leading lady and heroine. Both Anand and Rehman remained good friends until his death.
- #095
Like his rival and best friend Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand's true wealth is shrouded in mystery. When he died in 2011, his net worth was reported as 50 million US dollars, but it was later discovered that his luxury home in Juhu and his recording studio and production office in Pali Hills alone were worth a total of 70 million US dollars, separate from his other assets, including the intellectual property rights to most of the films he made and a collection of artworks worth tens of millions of dollars. Cautious estimates by many well-known magazines concluded that Anand had a net worth of around 100 million US dollars (140 million US dollars as of 2023), even without adjusting for inflation.
- #096
The famous zigzag road leading to his iconic residence in Mumbai's exotic Pali Hills suburb was renamed "Padma Bhushan Dev Anand Road" by the Maharashtra state government together with the Mumbai Municipal Corporation as part of his centenary celebrations in February 2024.
- #097
On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Indian cinema, a postage stamp bearing his image and likeness was issued by India Post on 3 May 2013 to honour him.
- #098
Anand's maternal nephew, the well-known international filmmaker Shekhar Kapoor, paid tribute to Anand on the centenary of his birth in 2023, saying: "The best thing about Mamaji, which was also the worst, was that he was never bothered by failure or even the thought of it."
- #099
In May 1984, Stardust magazine reported that G. P. Sippy was to launch Dev Anand's daughter Devina, and that Sippy approached Rajiv Kapoor to play the lead role. The condition was that Rajiv leave Ek Jaan Hain Hum. Rajiv refused, and the project was cancelled.
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