Chetan Anand (producer & director)
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Chetan Anand (Born January 3, 1915 Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan-Died July 10, 1997) was an acclaimed film producer and director from India, and the elder brother of Dev Anand and Vijay Anand.
Chetan Anand was born in Gurdaspur in Punjab. He served as an active Congress worker in the 1930s after graduating from Government College in Lahore.He entered the Hindi film industry as a hero in Phani Majumdar's film Rajkumar, which was released in 1944.
He soon took to film direction with the well-acclaimed movie, Neecha Nagar which bagged an award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1946. This film was the debut film for Kamini Kaushal.
After the critical acclaim of his directorial debut, Chetan along with his younger brother Dev Anand set up `Navketan Productions' in the early 50s. Afsar, starring Dev Anand and Suraiya, was the first film made by him under the banner. It turned out to be a moderate success. Taxi Driver and Andhiyan were other notable films he directed for Navketan.
Later on Chetan Anand started his own production banner called Himalaya films and teamed up with photographer Jal Mistry,music director Madan Mohan and lyrics writer Kaifi Azmi.Together they gave some of most memorable and unique films in hindi cinema like Haqueeqat, Heer Ranjha, Hanste Zakhm and Hindustan Ki Kasam. He is also known for the acclaimed television serial Param Vir Chakra, which was aired DoorDarshan in 1988.
After separation from his wife he had a long time relationship with the actress Priya Rajvansh, she was the heroine of his film Haqeeqat and all films after that. He had a relationship with her till his death.
He passed away on July 10, 1997 at the age of 82.
In the year 2000 Priya Rajvansh, a close friend of the director, was murdered over his estate dispute and subsequently his sons Ketan Anand and Vivek Anand were convicted of her murder and sentenced to life term in jail.[1]
