‘Always hungry for people’s love, Dharmendra was OG heartthrob’

Dharmendra, beloved Bollywood icon, craved genuine love and connection, captivating fans with his charm and authenticity until his passing at 90.

‘’I am hungry for the love of the people… I can never get enough of it,’’ the actor Dharmendra, who died in Mumbai on Monday, a few days short of his 90th birthday, often confessed. He craved “genuine human connection, far more than fame or riches”, he liked to say.

Dharmendra (AFP)

The star who had 2.6 million followers on Instagram had become a recent phenomenon for Gen Z admirers who loved his authenticity, sense of humour, and unscripted speech delivered with a big smile and multiple kisses blown at the camera.

On social media, he described himself as a poet, frequently sharing the Urdu couplets he composed. But for those of a certain vintage, Dharmendra was the OG movie heartthrob in the mould of global romantic icons like Rudolph Valentino. Women of all ages fell madly in love with Dharmendra. I don’t know about Valentino, but Dharmendra gallantly obliged every female fan who approached him for an autograph, hug, or more. He once famously admitted it was his ‘duty’ to make every woman feel desirable and special. But there was nothing slimy or lecherous about him. Far from it. Old fashioned and chivalrous, Dharmendra was incapable of offending the ladies who flocked to meet him. At one time, during the early 80s, housewives from Delhi would jump on an early morning flight, rush to whichever studio Dharmendra was shooting in, and demand a private audience in his dressing room. He always obliged. “How can I disappoint any woman?” he would simply shrug. Innumerable grateful women will remember Bollywood’s most irresistible lover boy in their prayers tonight.

While his good friends and contemporaries like Jeetendra known as Jumping Jack, Shatrughan Sinha, then called Shotgun, Manoj Kumar who was called Mr Bharat, and a little later Amitabh Bachchan — the nation’s Angry Young Man –– were creating their own niche in Bollywood, nobody came close to Dharmendra when it came to his tally of hit films. In 1973, he had eight consecutive hits, in 1987, he had seven blockbusters, and there was a time when he had nine films running in the theatres in a single year. He still holds the record for giving the maximum number of commercially successful films in the history of Hindi cinema.

Incredibly enough, his last big hit was ‘Rocky aur Rani ki Prem Kahani’ in 2023 when he was 87, and made headlines for sportingly kissing his co-star, Shabana Azmi. As the love interest who returns in the life of his lady love at a mature phase off life –– whether in ‘Rocky Aur Rani...’ or Anurag Basu’s 2007 sleeper hit ‘Life in a Metro’ opposite Nafisa Ali –– Dharmendra was at his quintessential romantic best. It was this ineffable quality that touched his audience, and which makes him one of the great stars of Indian cinema.

For film aficionados, though, Dharmendra’s real life love story remains the most daring and the most inspiring chapter of his personal life. In 1980, the already-married but still lovelorn Dharmendra jumped on a flight and rushed to Madras to stop the nation’s Dream Girl, Hema Malini, from getting married to another suitor, the actor Jeetendra.

Their unconventional marriage soon after led to a major public scandal. Despite the raging controversies, both Dharmendra and Hema Malini conducted their respective lives with admirable grace and raised two beautiful daughters together. His first wife Prakash and their four children together braved the storm stoically, and refused to participate in any debate on the subject. With both families opting for discretion over dissection of the complex dynamics of the arrangement, the matter eventually became a non-issue.

Considered the handsomest star of his generation, he was the Jat who never forgot his village roots. You just had to see the kindness in Dharmendra’s eyes to know he lived his life following his own unique “Dharma”. And movie fans unconditionally adored him for being just him.

(Shobhaa De is a columnist and author. Views expressed are personal)