DEKHTE HI DEKHTE DHARAM JI DEOL PARIWAAR KE MANNIYA MUKHYA BAN GAYE

More than sixty years ago, a handsome young man from Sanawar in Bhagwada district of Punjab came to Bombay with the dream to be another Dilip Kumar because all the films he had seen till then were only the films of Yusuf Khan, also known as Dilip Kumar - ALI PETER JOHN

He had to face an uphill struggle and faced days of hunger and humiliation. He had thought of running away from it all several times, but it was his friend, Manoj Kumar who kept stopping him and promising him that his luck would change and he would be one of the leading stars of India.

It took the young man called Dharmendra Singh Deol just a few more months to make Manoj Kumar's prediction for him come true and in another few years, he was one of the leading stars and also one of the ten most handsome men in the world.

He took just another three or four years to have his own land in Juhu and then another few years to build his massive bungalow in Juhu.

Dharmendra had played one of the longest and most successful innings as a star and has now at 84 almost taken retirement and has gone back to his first love, farming which he does on his farm in Lonavala where he also writes some good Urdu poetry.

The actor who loves to be known as "The son of the soil" has not only made a major contribution by himself, but has given his entire family of men to the industry.

He had brought out his first son, Sunny only once and that was during the shooting of Manmohan Desai's "Dharamveer" in which Sunny also played the junior Dharmendra.

It took him a few more year to launch Sunny as an actor and he made his debut in "Betaab" and like his father, he too has played a long innings and like his father, he has also just been elected to the Lok Sabha from Gurdaspur on a BJP ticket, a seat which was once held by the late Vinod Khanna.

Soon after Sunny, it was his younger brother, Bobby who made his debut with Twinkle Khanna, the daughter of Rajesh Khanna and Dimple in "Barsaat". He too was accepted as a star.

Dharmendra had married Hema Malini after the two had done more than eighteen films together and they had two daughters, Esha and Ahaana.

Esha Deol started of as an actress but could not go very far and is now married to a business man and they have a child.

Ahaana has shown no interest in films and only dances with her mother and sister once in a way.

Dharmendra's younger brother, Ajit Singh Deol tried his luck as a comic villain but couldn't make it and sat at home, writing poetry.

His son, Abhay Deol has however turned out to be formidable actor who works on his own terms and is accepted like he wants to be.

Dharmendra's second wife, Hema Malini has now taken a break from acting and direction and is a full time politician and a prominent leader of the BJP and the way she is going and looking at seventy, one can only accept her to work greater wonders in the time to come.

And now the Deol tree which was first planted by Dharmendra seems to be in full bloom as his grandson, the son of Sunny , Karan Singh Deol is all set to make his debut as the leading man of his father, Sunny Deol's film, "Pal Pal Dil Ke Pass".

The title of the film says it all for the Deol tree which has not only sown the seeds in every lover of in the cinema.

And the seeds are now yielding rich fruits and the one man who must be looking at the tree with disbelief and awe is the man who heads the tree, the son of the soil who has entrenched it's roots which cannot be uprooted by time, storms and whatever barriers may come in its way.