Dharmendra, celebrated as Bollywood’s 'He-Man, always held a special affection for South Indian filmmakers. Producer Adiseshagiri Rao — brother of yesteryear superstar Krishna — reminisces about his interactions with the actor, who passed away a few hours ago.

“I last met Dharmendra ji seven years ago, when I went to invite him to my son’s wedding,” Rao says. “He told me he couldn’t attend because of health issues, and even sent his regards to Krishna. I never needed an appointment to meet him; he always treated me like a member of his own family.”

Rao shared that he had produced several Hindi films under the Padmalaya Studios banner, which allowed him to meet Dharmendra frequently.

“We actually wanted to remake the Telugu hit Devudu Chesina Manushulu in Hindi as Takkar with Dharmendra,” he says. “But after Sholay, he became extremely busy for three to four years. It was supposed to be our first Hindi film, so we waited. When we couldn’t get his dates, we went ahead with Jeetendra. From then on, we continued working with Jeetendra and made several films with him.”

He recalls that Dharmendra would often drop by their office in Chennai and later in Hyderabad whenever he was shooting nearby. “Hema Malini acted in our productions, and during that time too, we used to meet him. He was a gentleman — straightforward, honest, and never one to hide his feelings,” Rao says.

According to him, Dharmendra remained warm and approachable throughout the years. “We produced a Hindi film with his daughter Esha Deol - Kyaa Dil Ne Kahaa (2002), and many of our dubbing and recording sessions happened at his Sunny Studios. Even then, I would meet him often,” Rao adds.