Dev Anand and Zeenat Aman were one of the biggest stars of Bollywood. The duo has worked in films like Hare Rama Hare Krishna and Heera Panna. While Dev Anand was known for his charming personality and larger-than-life aura on-screen, Zeenat Aman brought a glamorous quotient to the films, along with her par excellence acting and dancing skills. Did you know that Dev Anand had fallen in love with Zeenat Aman? In his autobiography, Romancing With Life, written by Dev Anand, he confessed his love for the actress. He mentioned, “Suddenly, one day I felt I was desperately in love with Zeenat? And wanted to say so to her! To make an honest confession, at a very special, exclusive place meant for romance.” He chose the Rendezvous at the Taj (hotel), where he had once dined with her earlier. He had called the actress after attending a party together.
In the same memoir, Dev Anand wrote that Raj Kapoor was also in attendance at the party where the actor-director had put his arms around the actress. Dev Anand doubted if there was something between the both after he noticed Zeenat reciprocating his embrace in “more than polite and courteous”. What further fueled his anger was when Raj Kapoor, in a drunken state, told Zeenat Aman, “You are breaking your promise that you will always be seen by me only in a white sari.”
This broke his heart and he wrote, “More embarrassment was written large on her face, and Zeenat was not the same Zeenat for me any more. My heart broke into pieces …The rendezvous had already lost all meaning in my mind. I sneaked out of the place.” The actress did not react to these rumours then, she addressed it in a post after joining social media.
In April 2023, Zeenat Aman shared a few photos with Dev Anand and refuted the claims. She expressed, “In 2007, ‘Romancing with Life’, Dev Saab’s autobiography hit the stands. In it he professed that he was in love with me, and insinuated that Raj ji and I had more than a director-actor equation which broke his heart. To be honest, I was livid. I felt humiliated, hurt and disconcerted that Dev saab, my much older mentor, a person I loved and admired platonically, would not only believe such a story devoid of a shred of truth, but would then go on to publish it for the world to read.” She accepted that in her anger, she had put the book in the storage of her basement.
Dev Anand wanted to marry actress Suraiya, but could not since her family was against her marrying a Hindu man. Later, he married a Christian, Mona Singha, who was later re-christened as Kalpana Kartik.
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