File photo: Dev Anand. Photo: Press Information Bureau (GODL-India)
Suneil Anand, the son of legendary actor Dev Anand, has died at the age of 70 in London after suffering a heart attack.
His family confirmed the news through a statement issued by his niece, Gina Narang.
Suneil died on July 26 at the same London hospital where his father, Dev Anand, passed away in 2011.
He is survived by his mother, 94-year-old actress Kalpana Kartik, and his sister, Devika, both based in Ooty.
After his acting career did not progress as hoped, Suneil took on the responsibility of running his father’s production banner, Navketan Films.
Navketan was founded in 1949 by Dev Anand and his brother Chetan Anand, and became one of the most respected names in Hindi film production.
Dev Anand was regarded as one of Hindi cinema’s most celebrated leading men, known for films such as Guide, Jewel Thief, CID and Hare Rama Hare Krishna over a career of six decades, before his death in 2011 at the age of 88.
Suneil had appeared in a small number of films early in his career before stepping away from acting to focus on the family production house.
Dev Anand’s honours included the Padma Bhushan, awarded in 2001, and the Dada Saheb Phalke Award in 2002, marking recognition of a career in Indian cinema that stretched back to the 1940s.
The Navketan catalogue also features films directed by Dev Anand’s brother Vijay Anand, including Guide and Jewel Thief, both produced under the banner and now considered among Hindi cinema’s classics. Suneil had, in recent years, taken on the task of managing and preserving this catalogue, continuing a family association with Indian film production that has spanned several decades of industry change.
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))
