Sachi Mohabbat Marti Nahi Hai-Dev Anand Aur Suraiya Ne Zamane Ko Saabit Kar Diya

Ali Peter John

(Suraiya Ke Purntithi Par)

I could never imagine that I would be sitting with Dev Anand one night and listening to him talk about his much- talked about affair with Suraiya, the well-known singer and actress of the forties and fifties. He was in a mood to go into a flashback and did not hesitate or stop and as his love story grew more and more interesting and intense, I could see the tears of a lover who had not forgotten his beloved even after half a century had passed.

He told me about the early days of his struggle to make it as an actor and how he had many women willing to fall in love with him and make him a part of their lives. But, he said the only time he had fallen in love was when he loved Suraiya for more than eight years.

He  was still a struggler when he happened to meet her in a studio and it was almost like love at first sight for him, but she was not only a superstar but also older than him. But once he had fallen for her, it was no stopping him. He often walked past her Marine Drive apartment just to have one glimpse of her. He knew that he was a nobody when compared to her star-status, but he also knew that his love for her was true and it was this feeling that made him a greater lover who believed that his love could never let him down.

Suraiya soon realized how very deeply the young Dev was in love with her and she who had many other bigger admirers and lovers reciprocated the love of a true lover and soon Dev and Suraiya were the most talked about lovers in the industry. It was while they were in love that a lane in Lonavala was named after Suraiya and if there was one man who was genuinely happy for her, it was her ardent lover, Dev Anand.

Their love for each other also led to their being teamed as lovers and within a matter of time, they had worked together in a record number of seven romantic films and were the most popular pair loved by one and all because of their love for one another.

Like all great love stories, Dev and Suraiya also had to face all kinds of problems, the most important being the strong opposition of Suraiya’s grandmother who could not think of having a Hindu boy falling in love with her “Baby” and opposed their relationship in as vehement a way as possible. She in her old age even visited the studios where the lovers were shooting to see how close they were getting in the romantic scenes shot between them. She stopped the shootings of films when she even saw Dev kissing her “Baby’s” eyelashes.

The grandmother kept making life for the lovers a hell on earth but they continued meeting in different places, helped by their common friends and even by Suraiya’s mother who supported the lovers but couldn’t go against the wishes of the grandmother.

The love story continued for five years during which time they had grown very close and had even exchanged rings even though Dev could not really afford it. The grandmother’s tyranny however continued till she succeeded in breaking up their affair. The night Dev realized that it was all over between them, he sat on the parapet alone Marine Drive and cried through the night. It is said that the grandmother took the ring Dev had presented to Suraiya and thrown it in the ocean outside their house. The next afternoon Dev Anand proposed to his heroine Kalpana Kartik, she instantly accepted and a “pandit” was called on the sets where they were shooting and Dev and Kalpana (Mona) were declared husband and wife. Dev got more busy with work, he signed several films to keep himself busy and even gave breaks to several other directors to make films under his banner, Navketan. Dev and Kalpana had two children, a son who they named Suneil and a daughter named Devina. Dev was however not able to forget his first love and could not have a very happy married life with Kalpana and at one stage, Dev lived at the Sun-N-Sand Hotel in suite number 339 where he lived for more than 20 years.

On the other hand, Suraiya who was at the peak of her career both as a singer and an actress lost interest in work and the last film she did was “Rustom Sohrab”. She had it seemed taken a decision that if she could not marry Dev, she would not marry anyone else. She then became a recluse and spent most of her time in her posh apartment and made very rare appearances but whenever she did, she made sure that people knew that she was Suraiya, the great star and she stood out in any kind of crowd because of her expensive sarees and the gold ornaments that she wore. The last public appearance she made was at my paper, Screen’s awards function at which she was to be presented with the Life time Achievement Award. Dev who attended every awards function organized by “Screen” skipped the function this one time for reasons he did not want to divulge, but which were so very obvious….

Three years later, Suraiya died of a massive heart attack and Dev knew that the media would not leave him in peace. He rushed to his  office, “Anand” at Pali Hill early in the morning and arranged for a tent to be set up on the terrace of his office with a telephone line with an unknown number attached. I still don’t know why, but he called me and when I reached “Anand”, I was led to the tent where we spent several hours talking about Suraiya. The entire media was trying its best to trace him, but he was not available. I remember that one sentence which he spoke during the time we spent together, he had said, “what happened between her and me was a matter between two souls in love, I will never make it a public issue by talking about her in the media”. That afternoon he had tears in his eyes several times. His love for Suraiya was still alive. Dev and Suraiya will always be the symbols of true love which lasts forever and of which great love legends are made of.

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Tags: Bollywood, Bollywood News, Bollywood Updates, Television, Telly News, Suraiya, Dev Anand