When Tanuja slapped 'besharam' Dharmendra for trying to flirt with her, he apologised: 'Please make me your brother'
Tanuja had once slapped Dharmendra after he 'tried to flirt' with her. However, after apologising and cajoling her, she made him her brother.
Veteran actor Tanuja once said that she had slapped fellow actor Dharmendra when he 'tried to flirt' with her. However, an embarrassed Dharmendra apologised to Tanuja and asked her to make him her brother. Initially, she was hesitant but after much cajoling, she tied a black thread on his wrist.
The incident took place during the shooting of their film Chand Aur Suraj (1965). In an interview, Tanuja had said that Dharmendra was then married to his first wife Prakash Kaur. His elder son Sunny Deol was five years old then. Dharmendra had married Prakash at the age of 19 in 1954.
In an interview with Filmfare in 2014, Tanuja had said, "We were shooting for Dulal Guha’s Chand Aur Suraj. Dharam and I were drinking buddies and would have great fun. He even introduced me to his wife Prakash. Sunny (Deol) was just five then, while his daughter Lali was around six months old."
"One day he tried to flirt with me. Taken aback, I slapped him and said, ‘Besharam! I know your wife and you have the audacity to flirt with me’. Embarrassed he pleaded, ‘Tanu, meri maa, sorry bolta hoon (I am sorry)! Please make me your brother’. I refused saying I was happy with my own brother (Jaideep)’. After much cajoling, I took a black thread and tied it around on his wrist.”
Tanuja and Dharmendra have starred together in several movies including Chand Aur Suraj (1965), Baharen Phir Bhi Aayengi (1966), Izzat (1968) and Do Chor (1972).
Tanuja started her career in films, when she was seven years old, with Hamari Beti (1950), also starring her elder sister Nutan. Her debut film as an adult was Chhabili (1960), which was directed by her mother and had Nutan playing the lead role.
Tanuja married filmmaker Shomu Mukherjee in 1973 and they have two daughters--Kajol and Tanishaa. Shomu died in April 2008 from a heart attack at the age of 64.