Here's everything you need to know about celebrated filmmaker Vijay Anand's controversial life, including his marriage to his niece Sushma Kohli.
Dev Anand is one of the biggest superstars, but his brothers Chetan Anand and Vijay Anand are not credited enough for their contribution to Hindi cinema. While Chetan Anand made internationally-acclaimed films such as Neecha Nagar and Haqeeqat, Vijay Anand revived the thriller genre in Bollywood with films like Teesri Manzil and Jewel Thief.
Vijay Anand has had an interesting and controversial personal life too. Born in 1934 in Gurdaspur, Punjab to a famous advocate Pishori Lal Anand, he was the youngest of the nine siblings. As he had golden hair in his childhood, Vijay was nicknamed Goldilocks by his father and hence, he was also called Goldie Anand in the film industry.
Dev Anand and Chetan Anand had founded the Navketan Studios, and Vijay also wanted to work with them. He joined them when he came to Mumbai and made his directorial debut Nau Do Gyarah in 1957 with his brothers and started making films under their banner. The most famous film directed by Vijay Anand was the 1965 release Guide, which was based on R. K. Narayan's 1958 novel of the same name. Guide became a huge blockbuster and is even counted among the greatest Hindi films ever made.
Talking about his personal life, Vijay started following the spiritual guru Rajneesh aka Osho and even quit films to became his ardent follower. When Osho and his personal secretary Ma Anand Sheela were accused of brainwashing people and supporting several crimes, Vijay realised his mistake and stopped following the Godman. When Vijay gravitated towards Osho, his personal life also suffered as he separated with his first wife Loveleen.
After leaving Loveleen and Osho both, Vijay Anand took a drastic step in his life, which shocked a lot of people. He married his own niece Sushma Kohli, daughter of his older sister, in 1978. Their marriage caused a scandal, but even after facing resistance from the society, the couple lived a happy life until Vijay's death in 2004 due to a heart attack.
In 2018, Sushma Anand opened up on their relationship in an interview with Filmfare magazine when she said, "Goldie (Vijay ji’s nickname) and I got married in 1978 during Ram Balram’s shoot. He liked my simplicity. I understood his temperament. He rarely lost his cool. I was the one who’d lose my temper. I was crazier. I’d deliberately do things to annoy him. Sometimes, he managed me. Sometimes I managed him." She died in 2023 at the ago of 70 following a heart attack.
READ | Meet actor, who was thrown out of first film, had 10 flops in 4 years, one film changed his life, is worth Rs 1200 crore
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