By Suneil Anand, the son of legendary actor Dev Anand, has passed away in London at the age of 70 after suffering a heart attack.
The family confirmed his death through a statement issued by his niece, Gina Narang.
He died on July 26 at the same London hospital where his father, Dev Anand, had died in 2011.
Suneil is survived by his mother, 94-year-old actress Kalpana Kartik, and his sister, Devika, who live in Ooty.
After his acting career did not take off, Suneil took over the running of Navketan Films, the production house founded by his father.
Navketan was established in 1949 by Dev Anand together with his brother Chetan Anand, and became one of Hindi cinema’s most respected production banners.
Dev Anand was one of Hindi cinema’s most iconic leading men, remembered for films including Guide, Jewel Thief, CID and Hare Rama Hare Krishna across a six-decade career, before his death in 2011 at 88.
Suneil had appeared in a handful of films earlier in his career before moving away from acting to oversee the family’s production business.
Dev Anand was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2001 and the Dada Saheb Phalke Award in 2002 for his contribution to Indian cinema, part of a body of recognition built up over a career dating back to the 1940s.
Navketan’s productions also include films directed by Vijay Anand, Dev Anand’s other brother, among them Guide and Jewel Thief, both made under the banner and now regarded as classics of Hindi cinema. Suneil had, in recent years, been responsible for managing and preserving this catalogue, sustaining the family’s long-running association with Indian film production through a period of considerable change in the industry.
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))
