Happy Birthday Dharmendra: DHARAM ... EK AADHUNIK GAATHA 

......Ali Peter John

I am a nobody, but I believe I have the right to have my own opinions, views and favourites and I don't think anyone however powerful, supreme or divine can stop me.....

This morning, on one more new year's day I was sitting and trying to name my man of 2020 and several names crossed my mind but my quest ended with Dharmendra Singh Deol who was not only the favourite of millions for one year but for more than sixty long years.

When did I see the handsome, strong and lovable man for the first time? It was at the Ranjit Studio in Dadar where he was shooting for one of his early films called "Mere Hum-Dum Mere Dost". I was lucky to be at the studio because of my neighbour Mr Z. D Laari who was an assistant of Amar Kumar who was the director of the film which was written by the renowned Urdu writer Rajinder Singh Bedi (who had written the dialogue for Bimal Roy's "Devdas”)

I was a student in the first year of college and was fascinated by the personality of this new actor who had taken the country by a welcome storm and was waiting for a chance to have just one glimpse of him. I reached the studio with Mr Laari at 9 am sharp as I was asked to by Mr Laari. He treated me to a delicious breakfast of hot milk mixed with jalebis which I had never tasted before and then we walked to the floor on which Dharmendra was to shoot for a song.

I was told that Dharmendra would come only around 10 30 and I still don't know how I spent my time till the hero arrived and when he did, I went into a trance, I couldn't believe that the Dharmendra was just a few steps away from me.

The shooting started and I saw Dharmendra taking all the trouble to put his curl above his forehead before starting shooting for the song, the first line of which went, " huyi shaam unka khayaal aa gaya". It took quite some time for the first shot to be okayed and then there was a break for lunch. Mr Laari introduced me to the hero of my dreams in and he ran his strong hands over my head and said, " khush raho bachche, aage kya banna chahate ho?" I was so taken aback by his presence that I forgot to answer him and he asked Mr Laari to take me for lunch and what a lunch I had that afternoon..... Little did I know than that Dharmendra would be one of the biggest stars and I would be very close to him and we would be friend for more than forty years, friends not just in name, but in the true sense of the word and the meaning and feeling.....

I have watched Dharmendra taking all his crucial steps and I am still watching him as he grows into a marathon man, a miracle man and an epic in his own way.

Very few actors have gone through the journey of life like Dharmendra has. He started off on shaky grounds and then gradually took every step carefully which led him to be known as one of the best all-rounders who could be good in any kind of role. He was the first He-Man who could also play emotional roles, comic roles and out and out action roles. The handsome man who the industry saw very little chances of making it big when there were so many other heroes in the competition, had to not only accept him as a versatile actor, but also as an actor to be respected.

I find it staggering to believe that the man who had to live on the kindness of people like Gurpal Singh 'Baba' and some of his friends from Sanewal in Punjab who had settled down in Bombay and after spending several days without proper food and at times even living on wheat flour mixed with water, had struck success and then never had to look back.

How can anyone believe the success story of a man who had come to Bombay by the Rajdhani Express and was all set to go back by the same train when he realised that he stood no chance of making it in the world of Hindi Cinema and had stayed back on the saying of his friend 'Manu' (Manoj Kumar) and went on to work on his own terms for sixty long years in an industry where 'aana aur jaana' is an accepted way of life? And how can anyone believe that the man who was a shy boy from Punjab went on to do more than three hundred films of different genres and has been a winner of hearts all the way.

Why could have some of the all-time big directors have had so much faith and trust in him? Why did some of the best directors like Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Ramanand Sagar, Pramod Chakravarty, Ramesh Sippy and many other reputed directors of the last five decade want him as the hero of their films? And what about all those other directors who dreamt of making films with him and whose dreams remained dreams because of reasons that will not be known now or ever? And what about all those actresses from Mala Sinha to Nutan to Sadhana, to Waheeda Rehman, Jaya Bhaduri, Rekha, Raakhee and down to Sharmila Tagore, Jayaprada, Sridevi and even the late J.Jayalalitha and so many others who felt privileged to work with him? And what about the industries in Mumbai and the entire south which saw him as “The hero beyond all heroes”? As I see it, there has rarely been a hero who has reached this stage and status.

Dharmendra has also had quite a stormy personal life. He was married to Prakash Kaur and had two sons (Sunny and Bobby ) and two daughters from this marriage. But in the Eighties he had done more than 15 films with the “Dream girl” Hema Malini, fell in love with her and married her in spite of all the criticism by society and the attacks by the media. Dharam and Hema have two daughters, Esha and Ahaana and are grand parents now.

At one stage of his life, Dharam had taken to drinking heavily and there are stories about his working in an entire film called “Main intaqaam looga” in a state of drunkenness. I have had drinking sessions with him and he had once told me, “ Ali, log glass mein peete honge, bottle se peete honge, drumon se peete honge, humne to saara samandar he pee liya”. He gave up drinking completely some years ago and now counsels young people about alcohol consumption.

Whenever Dharam is asked about one mistake he made that he repents, he says it was his falling for the temptations to enter politics and fight elections on the BJP ticket from Bikaner in Rajasthan. He was an absolute misfit in the world of politics and is said to have lost a great deal of his own money while he was a M.P. from Bikaner. He has now vowed not to have anything to do with politics….

And he has been spending the last ten years on his farm in Lonavala and has been working in the fields as a farmer and in the gardens growing fruits and vegetables and he has a stable full of cattle which help the farmer in him. Dharam had once wanted to be known as “the son of the soil”. Now he doesn’t have to ask for anything, he is the master of all he surveys on his farm and is deservingly known as the “Dhartiputra”. He is eighty-five now but like he says in one of his poems “abhi bhi main jawan hoo” and who can dispute what he says about himself? He at eighty-five is working on the sequel of “Apne”with his sons Sunny,Bobby and his grandson Karan Singh Doel and there are scripts which he is still considering. Tell me, which other actor in the history of Indian Cinema has been active for so long and is still so handsome and so full of life and optimism about the future?

I had seen the birth of the poet in him 30 years ago when he used to recite his new born poems to me and ask me for my opinion and I in my humble way kept telling him to keep writing poetry. And I am extremely delighted to know that he is a powerful and highly sensitive poet today. Take a look and read the poem he has written about himself and you will know how the garam lekin naram dharams dil beats even after living a life no man would dare to live……

Mahaan maa ki mamta

Azim baap ki shafaqat ka

Azim-o-shaan ek ehsaan hoon main

Insaaniyat ka pujaari,

Choton ka laad pyaar,

Badon ka aadar sammaan hoon main.

Duniya saari ban jaaye ek kulmba

Ekta ki hasraton ka armaan hoon main

Neki meri shakti hai ,

Kisi badh se kabhi darta nahi

Aisa aatmsammaan hoon main.

Mohabbat hai khuda aur khuda hai mohabbat

Khuda ki mohabbat ka ek farmaan hoon main.

Pyaar duaaein hai aapki

Seenchti hain jazbaat ko mere.

Issiliye aaj bhi jawaan hoon main.

Khata agar ho jaaye,

Toh baksh dena yaaron

Galtiyon ka putla,

Aakhir ek insaan hoon main

As you know today is the birthday of famous actor Dharmendra ji and his family and friends wished him on his birthday.

Bollywood actor Ajay Devgan wished Dharmendra ji on his birthday.

Bollywood actor Sunny Deol wished father Dharmendra on his birthday

 

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A post shared by Sunny Deol (@iamsunnydeol)

Bollywood actor BOBBY DEOL wished father Dharmendra on his birthday

 

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A post shared by Bobby Deol (@iambobbydeol)

Praying for dear Dharam ji’s good health on his birthday today❤️ Wish him a long and healthy life filled always with happiness and joy! My prayers will be with him today and every day of our lives🙏HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the love of my life❤️❤️ pic.twitter.com/QkHlKaYSWV

— Hema Malini (@dreamgirlhema) December 8, 2022

Esha Deol wished father Dharmendra on his birthday