हिंदी सिनेमा के ही-मैन धर्मेंद्र का निधन: 89 साल की उम्र में ली आखिरी सांस, लंबे समय से स्वास्थ्य संबंधी बीमारी से जूझ रहे थे

Dharmendra, the he-man of Hindi cinema, has passed away. 89 year old Dharmendra was the oldest and active actor of Bollywood. Dharmendra’s health deteriorated about ten days ago, after which he was admitted to Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai.

Dharmendra faced health-related challenges many times in his long career, but he was counted among the most fit and active senior actors of Bollywood. Recently, the trailer of his upcoming film ‘Ikkis’ was also released, in which he gave a strong performance.

Got inspiration to enter films from Dilip Kumar

Dharmendra had revealed many times that he got inspiration to enter films after watching Dilip Kumar’s films. When Dharmendra was in tenth class, he saw Dilip Kumar’s film Shaheed for the first time. After this he fell in love with the acting skills of Dilip Kumar.

When Dilip Kumar gave the Life Time Achievement Award to Dharmendra, he became very emotional.

Looking in the mirror he would ask, can I become Dilip Kumar?

Dharmendra has always considered Dilip Kumar as his God, brother and ideal. Often shared loving messages about Dilip Kumar on social media. While sharing a video on Instagram, Dharmendra had said- I used to work and used to come on bicycle. Wherever movie posters were displayed, he used to see his reflection in them. Stays awake all night and sees strange dreams. After waking up in the morning, I used to ask the mirror, can I become Dilip Kumar?

Dilip Kumar was also a fan of Dharmendra’s personality.

Dharmendra was given the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 42nd Filmfare Awards show in 1997. Dilip Kumar himself gave this award to Dharmendra. Dilip Kumar was also impressed by Dharmendra’s personality. He had said during the award show – When I saw Dharam for the first time, there was excitement in my heart, what if Allah had made me like this?

Dev Anand also wanted a look like Dharmendra

For the first time when Dev Anand saw Dharmendra, he said, Oh God, why didn’t you give me this face. Director Ashok Tyagi revealed this during a conversation with Dainik Bhaskar. Tyagi said- When I was making ‘Return of Jewelthief’, I cast Dharam ji in this film also. However, the title of the film was taken from Dev Anand ji’s film ‘Jewelthief’, hence I cast Dev Saheb in the main role in it.

Dharam ji knew that Dev Saheb’s character was stronger than him, yet he did the film. Dharam ji supported a lot in making this film. When Dev Saheb was approached for this film, Dev Saheb had shared the story of his first meeting with Dharam ji.

Dev Anand’s eyes were on Dharmendra standing far away in the crowd.

Ashok Tyagi said- When Dharam ji had come to participate in the Mumbai Film Fair Contest, all the people who had come to participate in the contest were taken to show the shooting. At that time the shooting of Dev Saheb’s film was going on.

Dev Saheb had told that after seeing Dharmendra standing far away in the crowd, he said, Oh God, why didn’t you give me this face. Not only this, Dev Saheb was so impressed by the personality of Dharmendra who was standing at a distance that he even called him and shared his lunch with him. Dharam ji had told me that he had seen an English type lunch box for the first time.

Used to sleep on the bench after eating gram, never got that chance

Dharmendra struggled hard to enter films. According to reports, Dharmendra did not learn acting from anywhere. Dharmendra won the talent hunt competition organized by Filmfare, leaving behind many talented people. After winning the talent hunt, Dharmendra came to Mumbai, but the path to films was not easy. He used to walk for miles to visit the offices of film producers so that he could save money and eat something from it. Many times he would sleep on the bench after eating gram and sometimes even gram was not available.

Got only 51 rupees in the first film

Dharmendra was given his first opportunity in films by director Arjun Hingorani in the film ‘Dil Bhi Tera Hum Bhi Tere’. Dharmendra got only Rs 51 for this film released in 1960. Even after this film, Dharmendra took only nominal money in all the films he did with Arjun Hingorani. Dharmendra owed his entire life to the Hingorani family and never demanded money from them.

Dharmendra considered age as just a number

Dharmendra had worked in 307 films. He played everything from action hero to romantic and comic characters. Dharmendra believed that age is just a number. Producer-director KC Bokadia said – Our coordination with Dharam ji was so perfect that even if I approached him for shooting two days ago, he never talked about any give-and-take. Still have very good relations with him. He used to say that in India an actor is considered old at the age of 60. 60-65 year old actor does love story in Hollywood.