Editing Dev Anand (section)

===Directorial debut in the 1970s===
Dev Anand's directorial debut, the espionage drama ''[[Prem Pujari]]'', was a flop but has developed a cult following over the years. The film introduced Zaheeda and had Waheeda Rehman as the female lead. He tasted success with his 1971 directorial effort ''[[Hare Rama Hare Krishna (1971 film)|Hare Rama Hare Krishna]]'', shot primarily in Nepal around Swyambhunath, and Bhaktapur,<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/south-asia/royal-friend-dev-anand-to-visit-kathmandu_10046377.html | title=Royal friend Dev Anand to visit Kathmandu | access-date=13 June 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200112055619/http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/south-asia/royal-friend-dev-anand-to-visit-kathmandu_10046377.html | archive-date=12 January 2020 | url-status=live }}</ref> in which talks about the prevalent [[hippie]] culture. His find [[Zeenat Aman]], who played the mini-skirt-sporting, pot-smoking Janice, became an overnight sensation. Anand also became known as a filmmaker of trenchantly topical themes. The same year, he starred with [[Mumtaz (Indian actress)|Mumtaz]] in ''[[Tere Mere Sapne (1971 film)|Tere Mere Sapne]]'', an adaptation of [[A. J. Cronin]]'s novel ''[[The Citadel (novel)|The Citadel]]''. The film was directed by Dev's brother, Vijay, and was also successful. In 1971 he paired again with Zaheeda in ''[[Gambler (film)|Gambler]]'' which went on to become a success.

In the 1970s, [[Raj Kapoor]] started playing roles of father in films such as ''[[Kal Aaj Aur Kal]]'' in 1971 and ''[[Dharam Karam]]'' in 1974 and had put on a lot of weight and films with [[Dilip Kumar]] as a lead hero like ''[[Dastaan (1972 film)|Dastaan]]'' and ''[[Bairaag]]'' were failures at the box office. Some of the hurriedly made films with Dev Anand as the leading man—two each opposite Hema Malini – ''Shareef Badmaash'', ''Joshila'' and two with Zeenat Aman – ''Ishk Ishk Ishk'', ''Prem Shastra'' and ''Saheb Bahadur'' with Priya Rajvansh — became flops and posed a threat to his career as a leading man. He bounced back with the double-role film ''Banarasi Babu'' in 1973. He delivered commercial hits again with young heroines like with [[Sharmila Tagore]] in ''[[Yeh Gulistan Hamara]]'' (1972), with [[Yogeeta Bali]] and [[Raakhee]] in ''[[Banarasi Babu (1973 film)|Banarasi Babu]]'' (1973), with Hema Malini in ''[[Chhupa Rustam]]'' (1973) and ''[[Amir Garib]]'' (1974),<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.boxofficeindia.com/showProd.php?itemCat=180&catName=MTk3NA== |title=Box Office 1974 |publisher=Boxofficeindia.com |access-date=14 November 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111016223214/http://boxofficeindia.com/showProd.php?itemCat=180&catName=MTk3NA== |archive-date=16 October 2011 }}</ref> with [[Zeenat Aman]] in ''[[Heera Panna]]'' (1973), ''[[Warrant (1975 film)|Warrant]]'' (1975),<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.boxofficeindia.com/showProd.php?itemCat=181&catName=MTk3NQ== |title=Box Office 1975 |publisher=Boxofficeindia.com |access-date=14 November 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131016163451/http://www.boxofficeindia.com/showProd.php?itemCat=181&catName=MTk3NQ== |archive-date=16 October 2013 }}</ref> ''[[Kalabaaz]]'' (1977) and ''[[Darling Darling (1977 film)|Darling Darling]]'' (1977) and with [[Parveen Babi]] in ''[[Bullet (1976 film)|Bullet]]'' (1976). The presence of his discoveries in the 1970s—Zeenat, and later [[Tina Munim]], in films and his good on-screen chemistry with beautiful young stars such as [[Raakhee]], [[Parveen Babi]], [[Hema Malini]] and [[Zeenat Aman]] in various films boosted Anand's image as the evergreen star even though he was well into his fifties. He attempted different genres of films to acquire versatile hero images. He was already 55 when he was paired with Tina Munim in 1978 in ''Des Pardes'', which became among the top five-grossing films of the year.