Dev Anand

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Dev Anand, one of the three mega-stars of Indian cinema of the 1950s, had his breakthrough with PL Santoshi's Hum Ek Hain (1946) the same year that his older brother Chetan had his own breakthrough as a director. Dev Anand was chosen by Bombay Talkies for Ziddi/ Stubborn (1948), a massive hit directed by Shaheed Latif and based on a story by Ismat Chughtai. But perhaps Dev's fame was due more to the seven movies he made between 1948 and 1951 with his lover Suraiya Jamal Sheikh who at the time was more famous than him, a love affair that was hopeless because she was a Muslim and he a Hindu. The best of these seven movies is Afsar (1950), directed by Chetan, the first film of their newly-born production company Navketan.

At this point Dev was able to choose his directors and co-stars. Other hits of the time were: Nirala/ Different (1950), directed by Devendra Mukherjee and the first one pairing him with actress Madhubala, Guru Dutt's Baazi/ Gamble (1951) and Jaal (1952), Subodh Mukherjee's Munimji (1955) and Paying Guest (1957), House No 44 (1955), directed by MK Burman, Insaniyat (1955), directed by SS Vasan and the only film that paired him with rival actor Dilip Kumar, a remake of Subba Rao's Palletoori Pilla (1950), and his brother Chetan's Funtoosh (1956).

Raj Khosla paired him with Waheeda Rehman in C.I.D. (1956), Madhubala in Kala Pani (1958) and Bengali actress Suchitra Sen in Bombai Ka Baboo (1960). His brother Vijay Anand directed Dev in Nau Do Gyarah (1957), Kala Bazar (1960), Hum Dono (1961), Guide (1965), a wildly successful adaptation of R.K. Narayan's novel, Jewel Thief (1967) and Johny Mera Naam (1970), another hit. Other hits were Shankar Mukherjee's Baat Ek Raat Ki (1962) and Raj Rishi's Sharabi/ Drunkard (1964), another film with Madhubala.

Dev directed himself in Hare Rama Hare Krishna (1971), Des Pardes (1978), Lootmaar (1980), Swami Dada (1982), Hum Naujawan (1985), and starred in his brother Chetan's Heera Panna (1973).

He spent his old age directing himself in low-budget movies: Awwal Number (1990), Sau Crore (1991), Gangster (1994), Main Solah Baras Ki (1998), Censor (2001), Love at Times Square (2003), Mr Prime Minister (2005), Chargesheet (2011).