Dharmendra life and biography

Dharmendra Singh Deol is a Legendary Bollywood Superstar. He is popularly known as the 'He-Man', of Bollywood and also as 'Garam Dharam'. Dharmendra has acted in more than 200 Bollywood films over a period of four decades, and was considered as the most handsome actor in Bollywood during the peak of his career. In 1997, Dharmendra received the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award.

Dharmendra was born into a Jat family in the Kapurthala district of Punjab, India. His parents are Keshwant Singh Deol and Satwant Kaur. His father was a head school master at a school in Ludhiana. Dharmendra spent his childhood at his native place Sahnewal in Ludhiana.

Dharmendra has been married twice. In 1954, when Dharmendra was just 19 years old, he married Prakask Kaur. He has four children with her, two sons, actors, Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol and two daughters, Vijeeta and Ajeeta.
On the sets of SHOLAY (1975), Dharmendra fell in love with Hema Malini, his co-star in many films. Their romance was legendary. Dharmendra converted to Islam in 1979, and changed his name to Dilawar Khan, to marry Hema Malini. He did so, because his first wife Prakash was not ready to divorce him. And in accordance with the Hindu Marriage Act it is illegal for a Hindu to get re-married when his first wife is still alive.

On 2nd May 1980, Dharmendra got married to Hema Malini. Dharmendra has two daughters from Hema Malini, Esha Deol, who is an actress and Ahana Deol. When Esha Deol decided to become an actress, Dharmendra was vocal about his displeasure regarding her career choice, as he did not feel that the Mumbai film industry was suitable for girls. Dharmendra was also romantically involved with actress Meena Kumari, his co-star in PHOOL AUR PATTHAR (1966).

Career:
Dharmendra had taken up a job with an American Drilling Company boring tube wells. But luckily he won the Filmfare New Talent Award and this proved lucky for him. He moved to Mumbai. He was discovered and signed up by Arjun Hingorani for the film DIL BHI TERA HUM BHI TERE in the year 1960. He received a signing amount of Rs. 51, and a daily breakfast, strictly of tea, two toasts and butter but no jam! He worked in several romantic black and white films in the early 1960s, hitting solo hero stardom with Phool Aur Patthar (1966). At the start of his career, he was usually cast as a romantic hero and later in the period from 1974 onwards as an action hero. He starred with several leading actresses at the beginning of his career. He worked with Nutan in Soorat Aur Seerat (1962) and Bandini (1963), Mala Sinha in Anpadh (1962) and Pooja Ke Phool (1964), Saira Banu in Shaadi (1962) and Ayee Milan Ki Bela (1964) and with Meena Kumari in Main Bhi Ladki Hoon (1964), Kaajal (1965), Poornima (1965) and Phool Aur Paththar (1966).

Phool Aur Paththar became the highest grossing film of 1966 and Dharmendra received his first Filmfare nomination for Best Actor. He formed a very successful pairing with actresses like Meena Kumari, Saira Banu, Sharmila Tagore, Mumtaz, Asha Parekh, Parveen Babi, Zeenat Aman and Hema Malini. His most successful pairing was with Hema Malini, who went on to become his future wife. They formed a hit pair delivering phenomenal hits like, Raja Jani, Seeta Aur Geeta, Sharafat, Tum Haseen Main Jawaan, Jugnu, Dost, Charas, Maa, Chacha Bhatija, Azaad, Teesri Aankh and Sholay. The 1980 film, The Burning Train also saw the Dharam-Hema chemistry in full flight.

His most notable acting performance was Satyakam with Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Sholay, where he appeared as the inimitable Veeru. Sholay went on to become one of the biggest hits in the history of Hindi cinema and is listed by Indiatimes as one of the "top 25 must see Bollywood films of all time". Dharmendra went on to star in numerous successful Bollywood films in the 1970s and 80s like Pratigya, Dharam Veer, Charas, Azaad, Katilon Ke Kaatil, Ghazab, Bhagavat, Dharam Aur Kanoon, Hukumat, Raaj Tilak, Watan Ke Rakhwale, Aag Hi Aag, Ghulami, Hathyar and Loha.

He has worked with various directors, each having different styles in their film-making, like Bimal Roy and Mohan Kumar in drama films, Yash Chopra and Raghunath Jhalani in romance films, Raj Khosla, Ramesh Sippy, Arjun Hingorani, Anil Sharma and Rajkumar Santoshi in action films and Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Basu Chatterji and Rajkumar Kohli in comedy films. He also has the distinction of appearing in quite a few films opposite actresses who have also starred opposite his son Sunny Deol. Notable amongst those are Sridevi in Naaka Bandi, Jaya Prada in Elaan-E-Jung, Dimple Kapadia in Shehzaade, Amrita Singh in Sachai Ki Taaqat, Kimi Katkar in Humlaa and Poonam Dhillon in Sone Pe Suhaaga.

He has also periodically done films in his native tongue of Punjabi, starring in Do Sher (1974), Dukh Bhanjan Tera Naam (1974), Teri Meri Ik Jindri (1975), Putt Jattan De (1982) and Qurbani Jatt Di (1990). Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, he continued to appear in many more films playing leading roles or supporting roles. In 1997, he received the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award. While receiving the award from Dilip Kumar and his wife Saira Banu, Dharmendra became emotional and remarked that he never received any Filmfare award in the Best Actor category despite having worked in so many successful films and nearly a hundred popular movies. He was glad that his contributions had finally been recognized. Speaking on the occasion Dilip Kumar commented, "Whenever I get to meet with God Almighty I will set before Him my only complaint-why did You not make me as handsome as Dharmendra?".

He has also experimented with film production; he launched both of his sons in films: Sunny Deol in Betaab (1983) and Bobby Deol in Barsaat (1995) as well as his nephew Abhay Deol in Socha Na Tha (2005). In one of her interviews, actress Priety Zinta has been quoted as saying that Dharmendra is her favourite actor. She has gone on to recommend him to play her father's role in Har Pal (2008).

After a few years hiatus from acting since the early 2000s, he is reappearing in films as a character actor. His 2007 films Life in a Metro and Apne were both successful at the box office. In the latter, he appears with both his sons, Sunny and Bobby for the first time. His other release was Johnny Gaddaar, where he played a villainous role. His latest film Yamla Pagla Deewana co-starring his sons Sunny and Bobby was released on January 14, 2011.

Political career
Dharmendra has also been active in politics. He was elected as a Member of the Parliament in the 2004 general elections, from Bikaner in Rajasthan, on a Bharatiya Janata Party ticket. During his election campaign, he made an ironic remark that he should be elected Dictator Perpetuus to teach "basic etiquette that democracy requires" for which he was severely criticized. Dharmendra has rarely attended the Parliament when the house was in session, preferring to spend the time shooting for movies or doing farm-work at his farm house. He has also not participated in any debates or raised any queries. Along with actor Govinda, Dharmendra has been criticised for ignoring his duties as a Member of Parliament.

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