If a book is written on the 100 years of Hindi cinema today, Dev Anand will certainly have a whole chapter dedicated to him. The legendary actor and filmmaker worked in the movies for 65 years, from his debut as an actor in Hum Ek Hain (1946) which released pre-Independence to his 2011 swan song and final directorial Chargesheet. Dev breathed his last at 88 in 2011. However, his son Suneil Anand's career was not even a patch on Dev Anand's historic career. Born to Dev and wife Kalpana Kartik in 1956, Suneil was born very close to the movies. Born in Zurich, Switzerland, when his parents were on their way to attend the Karlovy Vary Film Festival in the Czech Republic, he became the youngest delegate to attend that edition of the film festival. After completing his degree in business administration from American University in Washington DC, Suneil decided to follow in his father's footsteps. He assisted Dev Anand on several of his directorials in the late 1970s and the early 1980s, Suneil was launched by his father in the latter's 1984 directorial Anand Aur Anand. Dev played the lead, casting himself opposite Raakhee and Smita Patil, while his son played the supporting role. This was unlike the star kid launchpads of that time - Sunil Dutt directed son Sanjay Dutt in Rocky (1976) while Dharmendra's elder son Sunny Deol debuted with the 1983 romantic drama Betaab, which didn't have any involvement from his father. After Anand Aur Anand tanked at the box office, Suneil got another shot with Sameer Malkan's 1986 film Car Thief, in which he played the lead role opposite Vijayata Pandit. After Car Thief also followed his debut's fate, Suneil got the chance to star in his uncle and legendary filmmaker Vijay Anand's 1989 directorial Main Tere Liye, in which he was cast opposite Meenakshi Sesdhari. The film, backed by Dev Anand's production house Navketan Films, also starred Rajendra Kumar and Asha Parekh. However, even that didn't take off at the box office. Asha later admitted the purpose of the film was only for Dev to relaunch his son, who hadn't tasted success in the movies by then. Suneil Anand then took a long break from acting, before resurfacing his 2001 directorial debut and martial arts film Master. Suneil even trained extensively in Wing Chun, a traditional South Chinese Kung Fu style, in Hong Kong for Master. But even that film's fate was no different, thus putting an end to his directorial career along with his acting career. After Dev Anand's demise in 2011, Suneil, who continued to assist his father in his last few directorials, took over the reigns of Navketan Films. He also announced Vagator Mixer, an ambitious Hollywood co-production set in Goa and revolving around the drug racket there. He claimed the film was a tribute to his father since the latter always aspired to make a Hollywood movie. However, owing to a legal dispute between the co-producers, Vagator Mixer remains unreleased to date. Suneil Anand, however, did take the legacy of Navketan Films to a global level when he facilitated a screening of his father's 1965 seminal romance Guide at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008. Suneil, who now lives a quiet life away from the movies, was last spotted in 2023 at the launch of PVR's film festival to commemorate the birth centenary of Dev Anand in Mumbai. Also Read - Dev Anand lost all his money after his most ambitious movie with Shabana Azmi, Zeenat Aman failed: ‘In 15 minutes, he knew it was all gone’ For the unversed, Suneil is also the cousin of Shekhar Kapur, who was Dev Anand's nephew. Unlike Suneil, his cousin has delivered several memorable films as a filmmaker, including Masoom (1983), Mr. India (1987), and Bandit Queen (1994) before realizing his uncle's dreams of becoming a Hollywood filmmaker, by helming Elizabeth (1998), its sequel Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007), The Four Feathers (2002), and most recently, What's Love Got To Do With It? (2022).
