Dev Anand and Zeenat Aman were seen together in movies like ‘Hare Rama Hare Krishna’, ‘Heera Pana’. The actress actually rose to fame post the success of Dev Anand’s ‘Hare Rama Hare Krishna’. But did you know that the actor-director had actually fallen in love with Zeenat during the film? Dev Anand had confessed that in his autobiography. He had said, “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.I chose the Rendezvous at the Taj, on top of the city, where we had dined together once earlier.”
He confessed that he had called Zeenat and they decided to go to Taj after attending a party together. However, Dev Anand wrote in his memoir that Raj Kapoor also attended that party and he put his arms around Zeenat. “This suddenly struck me as a little too familiar. And the way she reciprocated his embrace seemed much more than just polite and courteous,” he said. Anand further hinted at the fact that there was something between Zeenat and Raj Kapoor which left him angered. Dev wrote that in a drunken state, Kapoor told the ‘Satyam Shivam Sunderam’ actress, ‘You are breaking your promise that you will always be seen by me only in a white sari.’ Dev confessed his heart broke and added, “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.”
At that point in time, Zeenat Aman did not react to these rumours and things written by Anand in his biography. However, recently when the actress joined social media, she spoke about how this was a misunderstanding which Anand had.
Zeenat 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. For weeks my phone rang incessantly as friends inquired about “what really happened” and shared excerpts from the book. I never did read it though, and in my anger I consigned the copy I was sent to storage in the basement!”
The actress however, said that she will always remember Dev for his ‘rare talent and warm guidance’. “He has my earnest gratitude and I do not tolerate disrespect to his name,” she wrote.
Before this, Dev’s heart had broken when he could not marry actress Suraiya due to their different faiths. She was Muslim and her family was against her marrying a Hindu man. Later, Dev anand married Mona who was a Christian.