Yes, I loved Suraiya: Dev Anand

New Delhi: Bollywood's evergreen superstar, Dev Anand, has romanced many beautiful women on the screen and even settled with one, but the octogenarian has, for the first time ever, professed his love for co-star Suraiya.

Dev Anand has admitted to have loved her and has made a special mention of this in his forthcoming autobiography titled Romancing With Life.

"Yes. I loved Suraiya. I am not shying away from this fact. I want to tell everything what happened during those days in my autobiography. It was a very important chapter of my life as I was growing. I was young and in love for the first time," Dev Anand was quoted by news agency PTI as saying.

"She was a big star. I was new. But I was also strong and sophisticated. I was educated, confident and was aware that I was going somewhere in life," he was further quoted as saying.

"It was a phase marked with various shades of emotions - falling in love for the first time, then not getting it, being encouraged then nothing happens. Then Dev Anand being Dev Anand, he emerged," the actor added.

The star says that he has several fond memories of the time he spent with Suraiya.

"During the shooting of a song sequence in a lake, we were sitting on a boat, and she slipped. I jumped into the water to save her from drowning," he recalls.

According to him, it was a phase marked with various shades of emotions. "I fell in love for the first time. We all know what first love does to a human being. Then the agony of not getting it. Suddenly hope was aroused after being encouraged, but again disillusionment crept in when nothing happened," the actor said.

In retrospect, the actor thinks the couple were destined to get separated. "It is all in the book. Whatever has been said about my relationship with Suraiya is false. Readers will get the true picture after reading it," the actor told PTI.

Speaking from his own experience he said that emotions were important in life as it made one more matured. But career was also important to grow in life.

"One has to be on top. It has to be there on your mind. But for that one needs to make lot of sacrifices. Someday you have to break away from your loved ones against your wishes. You will be heart broken. But you have to bear the sorrow to grow and belong to the world," Dev Anand said.

(With inputs from PTI)