Exclusive | Hema Malini on Dharmendra missing from Oscars' In Memoriam: They should've mentioned his name
As the Oscars' continue to face backlash over excluding Indian Dharmendra's name from the tributes during the ceremony, his wife, actor Hema Malini reacts.
The Academy Awards missing out on legendary Indian actor, late Dharmendra's mention in the In Memoriam section has not gone down well with his fans. Social media, since Monday morning, has been reacting strongly to the miss on the televised ceremony. His name, along with other Indian greats like late actor Manoj Kumar was added on the website, but it seems it all happened too little too late.
The Academy Awards' televised ceremony didn't feature Indian legend Dharmendra
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When HT City reaches out to actor-politician Hema Malini, Dharmendra's wife, she reassures his fans in turn, "Personally Dharam ji never bothered about all this! The love from his fans was above everything. I thank everyone for their concern, and for remembering him with such affection even now. The love and respect people have for Dharmendra means a great deal to us.”
But she mentions in the same breath, “Oscars should have mentioned Dharam ji's name certainly.” With a career spanning five decades, Dharmendra was after all one of the biggest stars Indian cinema had ever seen. With multiple hits under his belt, he continued working till a late age. His last release was Ikkis on January 1 this year itself.
Rishabh Suri is an Assistant Editor, film critic, and professional overthinker of plot points. He writes for HT City, keeping pace with an industry where news cycles expire long before the popcorn gets cold. He completed his graduation in English Honours from Kirori Mal College, followed by a Master’s degree in English Literature-effectively training his brain to over-analyse classic texts before applying those exact same skills to 3-hour Bollywood blockbusters. He got into the profession when he had barely graduated from college and has been at HT ever since. At HT, Rishabh reviews films with a simple rule: skip the dense academic jargon and get straight to the point. Beyond reviews, as Assistant Editor, he helps navigate the broader circus of showbiz, tracking everything from OTT shifts to sudden box office panics. In a beat driven by loud PR machinery and carefully scripted answers, Rishabh prefers cutting through the noise to focus on how stories get made and why trends shift. When he isn’t writing against a deadline, he is usually sitting in a dark theater, compulsively memorising dialogues. For Rishabh, analysing movies isn't just a day job- it’s a habit he couldn't turn off even if he tried.
