Dharam Dev Anand (he goes by his middle name) His real name was Devdutta Pishorimal Anand. In his heydey, he was considered the epitome of the suave, urban gentleman.
Dev Anand is one of the greatest stars the Hindi Film Industry has seen. Handsome and debonair. Dev Anand was born in Gurdaspur in Punjab to a well-to-do advocate, Pishorimal Anand. He graduated in English literature from the Government College, Lahore (now in Pakistan). His love for acting made him leave his hometown.
The initial years were full of struggle as among other things he even had to sell some of his possessions and even worked in the Military Censor’s office reading soldiers’ letters to their families.
His first acting assignment came with Prabhat’s Hum Ek Hain (1946) but the film didn’t do anything at all for his career. However at Prabhat, he met the young choreographer of the film, Guru Dutt.
A friendship blossomed between the two of them. They promised each other that if Guru Dutt were to turn filmmaker he would take Dev as his hero and if Dev were to produce a film then he would take Guru Dutt as its Director!
Dev Anand is one of those few Indian actors/filmmakers who are politically aware and active and are ready to stand up for the cause that is dear to them. He was the one who led a group of film personalities who stood up against the Internal Emergency imposed by the then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi. He actively campaigned against her with his supporters in Indian parliamentary elections in 1977 while very few among the film fraternity showed the courage to fight against the authoritarian regime.
Ziddi (1948) at Bombay Talkies was Dev’s first success.
On January 26, 2001 Dev Anand was awarded the Padma Bhushan for his contribution to Indian Cinema and the latest feather in the cap of this evergreen hero is the Dadasaheb Phalke Award. In true Dev Anand fashion - on receiving the Phalke award, he dedicated it to his future!