Esha Deol says father Dharmendra wanted her to ‘settle down at 18’ instead of acting: ‘But I wanted to do something’

Dharmendra and Hema Malini’s daughter, Esha Deol, debuted in the early 2000s. She looked back on how her family reacted when she told them about her passion.

Actor couple Dharmendra and Hema Malini’s daughter Esha Deol followed in their footsteps and debuted as an actor in 2022 with Koi Mere Dil Se Poochhe. While everyone assumes it might have been smooth sailing for her, given her lineage, the actor told Hauterrfly it was anything but that. (Also Read: When Esha Deol was body-shamed after her debut film: ‘They would talk about my baby fat’)

‘He wanted me to get married’

Esha Deol claims that it was not easy to convince Dharmendra she wanted to act.

Esha told the publication that her father Dharmendra wanted her to get married at 18 instead of entering films. She said that because of his orthodox background, he wasn’t game with her acting but shared that she was inspired by mom Hema’s career.

She said, “He didn’t want me to enter films. He was rightfully orthodox because he was a Punjabi, so he wanted me to get married and settle down at 18 because that was his conditioning, he’s coming from there. The women in his family are brought up that way. But my upbringing was very different in my house, seeing my mom act in films and her dance gave me a direction. It was ingrained inside me that I wanted to do something.”

Esha took a hiatus from acting after the 2011 film Tell Me O Kkhuda and married Bharat Takhtani in 2012 in Mumbai. She gave birth to their daughters, Radhya and Miraya, in 2017 and 2019. In February this year, the couple announced their separation. After the 2015 film Kill Them Young, Esha is looking to make a comeback with films titled Main and Hero Herroine.