Dev Anand’s only son Suneil Anand passes away at 70

Suneil Anand, the only son of legendary actor Dev Anand, has passed away at the age of 70 following a heart attack in London.

The family confirmed his death through a statement issued by his niece, Gina Narang.

He died on July 26 at the same London hospital where his father, Dev Anand, had passed away in 2011.

Suneil is survived by his mother, 94-year-old actress Kalpana Kartik, and his sister, Devika, who both live in Ooty.

After his own acting career did not progress, Suneil took over running Navketan Films, the production banner set up by his father.

Navketan Films was founded in 1949 by Dev Anand and his brother Chetan Anand, and became one of Hindi cinema’s most respected production houses.

Dev Anand was one of Hindi cinema’s most iconic leading men, remembered for films including Guide, Jewel Thief, CID and Hare Rama Hare Krishna across a six-decade career, before his death in 2011 at 88.

Suneil had featured in a handful of films himself early on before moving away from acting to manage the family’s production business.

Dev Anand’s honours included the Padma Bhushan in 2001 and the Dada Saheb Phalke Award in 2002, recognition for a career in Indian cinema stretching back to the 1940s.

Navketan’s productions also include films directed by Vijay Anand, Dev Anand’s other brother, among them Guide and Jewel Thief, both made under the banner and now considered classics of Hindi cinema. Suneil had, in recent years, taken responsibility for managing and preserving this catalogue, sustaining the family’s long-running association with Indian film production through a period of considerable change in the industry.

Guide, released in 1965, is frequently cited as one of the most acclaimed films to emerge from Navketan’s decades of production work, and remains a reference point in discussions of the studio’s legacy.

(Image: Press Information Bureau (GODL-India))