Dev Anand, Zeenat and Raj Kapoor: A love triangle
Basking in the glow of the success of 'Hare Rama Hare Krishna' in 1971, Dev Anand, the ever-romantic hero, soon realised that he was in love with the film's leading lady and his discovery Zeenat Aman.
He wrote: "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."Dev Anand wrote that he called up Zeenat and arranged to go to the meeting place after a brief presence at a party, where "a drunken Raj Kapoor .. threw his arms around her exuberantly. This suddenly struck me as a little too familiar.
And the way she reciprocated his embrace seemed much more than just polite and courteous."Suspecting something, Dev Anand recalled that a rumour had been floating that Zeenat had gone to Raj Kapoor's studio for a screen test for the main role in his new movie 'Satyam Shivam Sundaram'."The hearsay now started ringing true. My heart was bleeding," he wrote.
He added: "The evening delivered a blow to my personality, and my dominating spirit. I had decided on the spur of the moment to tell Zeenat for the first time how much I loved her. And that there was an idea in my mind of another story that would put her on a pedestal as never before, the highest so far. But that was never to be." Agency