Veteran actor and the 'He-Man of Hindi cinema' Dharmendra passed away on Monday (November 24), just two weeks shy of his 90th birthday. He was 89. Although there has been no official statement from the actor's family, his body was cremated at the Pawan Hans crematorium in Mumbai's Vile Parle area.
The actor was hospitalised on October 31 and got discharged on November 12. He was said to be in a stable condition and recovering well at home.
At that time Dr. Rajiv Sharma from the hospital had told IANS that the legendary star has gone home “fully satisfied” after receiving the required treatment.
The actor is survived by his first wife, Prakash Kaur, sons Sunny and Bobby Deol, second wife Hema Malini and daughters Esha Deol, and Ahana Deol, along with Ajeita and Vijeta.
The 89-year-old actor was considered the most handsome and commercially successful film stars in the history of Indian cinema. He delivered 74 hits in his five-decade-long career for films he either headlined or had a significant role in.
Dharmendra was born Dharam Singh Deol on December 8, 1935 in Nasrali village, Ludhiana, Punjab to school headmaster Kewal Krishan Singh Deol and homemaker Satwant Kaur. Cinema interested him since childhood and he used to enjoy films of Motilal and Dilip Kumar. His love for film made him sign up for Filmfare magazine’s talent contest in the late 1950s. He sent his photographs and was selected as a winner. This gave him confidence to move from Punjab to Mumbai to pursue his dream of becoming an actor.
His debut came with Arjun Hingorani’s romantic-drama Dil Bhi Tera Hum Bhi Tere (1960), which also starred Balraj Sahni and Kumkum. The film couldn’t perform well at the box office but Dharmendra caught attention because of his charming looks. His first commercial success came in 1961 with the release of Ramesh Saigal’s Shola Aur Shabnam. It was followed by both critically and commercially acclaimed films like Anpadh (1962) and Bimal Roy’s critically acclaimed Bandini (1963), which won the National Film Award for Best Feature that year.
Dharmendra’s first Filmfare Award nomination, for best supporting actor, came in 1965 for the film Ayee Milan Ki Bela (1964) in which he played the antagonist. In 1966, the actor did Phool Aur Patthar which topped the box office charts of the year.
Come 1970s, Dharmendra formed a hit-pair with actor Hema Malini, whom he later married. There were also widespread rumours stating that he had married Malini without divorcing his first wife Prakash Kaur by converting to Islam. Although in an interview in 2004, the actor had refuted all such reports and had said, “This allegation is totally incorrect. I am not the kind of man who would change his religion to suit his interests.”
Dharmendra and Malini have given numerous hits like Tum Haseen Main Jawan (1970), Sharafat (1970), Seeta Aur Geeta (1972) and Raja Jani (1972). In 1971, he made a shift from romantic to action films with Raj Khosla’s Mera Gaon Mera Desh. Dharmendra also headlined Yaadon Ki Baraat (1973), a film written by Salim-Javed, popularised by its songs and described as the first “masala film” of Indian cinema. But the film that would give him his most well-known and iconic role came in 1975. Dharmendra played Veeru, the happy-go-lucky, banter-half to Amitabh Bachchan’s cynical Jai in Sholay, a film which is considered the best of Hindi cinema.
The actor is also known for his performances in films like Chupke Chupke (1975), Charas (1976), Dharam Veer (1977), Chacha Bhatija (1977) and Dream Girl (1977). His career waned in the 1980s and he had hits and misses with moderate successes like The Burning Train (1980) and Alibaba Aur 40 Chor (1980) but also superhits like Kaatilon Ke Kaatil (1981) Rajput (1982), Badle Ki Aag (1982), Ghazab (1982), Baghavat (1982) and Samraat (1982).
In the late 1990s, Dharmendra start appearing in character roles. The first such one was in the Salman Khan, Kajol and Arbaaz Khan starrer Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya (1998). After a hiatus, the actor returned to the big screen in 2007 with Anurag Basu’s romantic-drama Life…In a Metro, Anil Sharma’s sports-drama Apne, in which he starred alongside his sons Sunny and Bobby, and Sriram Raghavan’s Johnny Gaddaar, in which his performance was lauded by the critics.
Dharmendra was last seen in the 2024 film Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya, starring Shahid Kapoor and Kriti Sanon. He also gave a sweet, memorable performance in Karan Johar’s 2023 romantic-drama Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani.
The actor’s final on-screen presence would be Sriram Raghavan’s upcoming war-drama Ikkis, which also stars Agastya Nanda. In 2012, Dharmendra was bestowed with the Padma Bhushan. He, however, didn’t win any Filmfare awards for his performances but received a Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997. While accepting the award from Dilip Kumar and his wife Saira Banu, he became emotional and remarked that he had never won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor despite having worked in so many successful films. Speaking on this occasion, Dilip Kumar had said, "Whenever I get to meet with God Almighty, I will set before him my only complaint – why did you not make me as handsome as Dharmendra?”