Dharamendra is the epitome of ‘Action’ in Indian cinema. The ‘Punjab ka Sher’ was born on December 8th 1935 as Dharam Singh Deol in a small village in Phagwara, Punjab. As a child Dharam was always a big movie buff and dreamt of becoming an actor, but when his parents forcibly got him married at the age of nineteen to Prakash Kaur, he was forced to take-up a job in an American Drilling Company boring tube wells. He became a father to Sunny Deol when he was barely twenty-one. Dharam got lucky when he spotted a ‘Spot The Talent’ contest in Filmfare magazine and decided to try his luck.
Dharam was signed by Director Arjun Hingorani for ‘Dil Bhi Tera Hum Bhi Tere’ and just when the actor though that he has made it big he was shocked to see the prodcer pay him just Rs. 51 ($1.25) as the signing amount for the movie. Besides; the movie unfortunately flopped at the box-office as well. Dharamendra didn’t lose hope and continued his Bollywood journey by opting for movies in which he would get to play the second lead.
Rajendra Kumar, who had acted with Dharamendra in ‘Aye Milan Ki Bela’, signed the actor for his home production ‘Phool Aur Pathar’ in the lead opposite Meena Kumari. The movie was a major hit and so was ‘Anupama’ his very next. This made Dharamendra a big star in Bollywood. The actor was also romantically linked to Meena Kumari, but he always denied the relationship.
The actor actively worked with many Bengali directors Bimal Roy and Hrishikesh Mukherjee as well. In 1971, he played himself in ‘Guddi’. In 1972, the actor met Hema Malini during the shoot of ‘Seeta Aur Geeta’ and fell in love with this South beauty. In 1970’s Dharamendra also changed his image from a soft to an action hero; his role in ‘Sholay’ won him accolades. His romance with Hema led to the two to convert to Islam and the love couple finally got married. The couple has two daughters-Esha and Ahana Deol.
In 1980’s the actor successfully paired with JP Dutta and worked on many movies like ‘Ghulami’, ‘Yateem’, ‘Batwara’, ‘Hathyaar’ and ‘Kshatriya’. Dharamendra also launched his son Sunny in ‘Betaab’ and Bobby in ‘Barsaat’ however; he didn’t launch his daughter Esha and also expressed displeasure on her joining the industry.
Dharamendra also joined the BJP political Party along with wife Hema Malini in 2004 and went to become a Member of Parliament, surprisingly not from Punjab, but from Rajasthan.
Dharamendra will be seen for the first time with both his sons in ‘Apne’. The Actor has had one of the most successful runs in Bollywood and despite having married twice; the actor is considered to be a very strong family man.
