One of India\u2019s most popular and versatile actors, Dharmendra was born inPunjabon December 8, 1935, and spent most of his childhood in Sahnewal village. His father, Kewal Kishan Singh Deol, was a school headmaster. \u00a0<\/p>\n
After completing his college education, Dharmendra won the \u2018New Talent\u2019 contest conducted by Filmfare<\/em> magazine and, like many other star-struck youngsters of his generation, arrived inBombay (now Mumbai) to try his luck in the Hindi film industry. He got his first break in the 1960 film \u2018Dil Bhi Tera Hum Bhi Tere\u2019, directed by Arjun Hingorani and starring Balraj Sahni and Kum Kum. This was followed by several films such as \u2018Soorat Aur Seerat\u2019, \u2018Bandini\u2019 and \u2018Anpadh\u2019 in which he played the romantic hero opposite popular actresses of that time. In the Bimal Roy-directed \u2018Bandini\u2019, which was both a critical and commercial success, Kalyani (Nutan), a female prisoner, is torn between two men \u2014 Devendra (Dharmendra), the prison doctor, and Bikash (Ashok Kumar).<\/p>\n Dharmendra played supporting roles in films like \u2018Aaye Milan Ki Bela\u2019 and \u2018Haqeeqat\u2019. The biggest hit of 1966, \u2018Phool Aur Patthar\u2019, in which he played the lead role, established him as a star. \u201cEssaying the role of an underworld hireling [in \u2018Phool Aur Patthar\u2019], Dharmendra blended machismo with marshmallow tenderness and won a major female following. When he peeled off his shirt in the film, a he-man was born,\u201d Dinesh Raheja wrote in rediff.com.<\/p>\n Putting the kind of roles Dharmendra did in the first decade of his career into context, the writer and critic Mukul Kesavan wrote in Outlook<\/em> magazine in May 2008: \u201cIn the \u201960s, Dharmendra represented moral seriousness in Hindi cinema; in film after film, the characters he played tried to reconcile the conflicting demands of love, advancement and integrity. He specialised in playing the respectable professional. He was a jail doctor in \u2018Bandini\u2019, a barrister in \u2018Mamta\u2019, an engineer in \u2018Satyakam\u2019 and \u2018Aadmi aur Insaan\u2019. In the mid-to late \u201960s, a time when Hindi cinema was marked by the hill-station hedonism of Shammi Kapoor, Dharmendra swam against the tide by carrying forward an older tradition of social realism and concern.\u201d<\/p>\n Kesavan calls Dharmendra\u2019s portrayal of an idealistic civil engineer in the 1969 landmark Hrishikesh Mukherjee-directed film \u2018Satyakam\u2019 \u201carguably the most affecting and powerful performance by a male actor in that decade\u201d. Dharmendra played himself in the 1971 comedy \u2018Guddi\u2019, which did reasonably well at the box office. Directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee and written by Gulzar, the film starred Jaya Bachchan as Guddi and Utpal Dutt. \u2018Guddi\u2019 again proved that Dharmendra could adapt himself to all kinds of roles.<\/p>\n \u2018Mera Gaon Mera Desh (1971) reinforced Dharmendra\u2019s image of an action hero.<\/p>\n Dharmendra and Hema Malini, who would become his wife, played a couple in several films including \u2018Seeta Aur Geeta\u2019, \u2018Naya Zamana\u2019, \u2018Jugnu\u2019, and the iconic \u2018Sholay\u2019.<\/p>\n In Sholay, a retired police officer Thakur Baldev Singh (played by Sanjeev Kumar) employs two petty thieves, Veeru (Dharmendra) and Jai (Amitabh Bachchan), to capture the dreaded bandit Gabbar Singh (Amjad Khan). The bond of friendship between Dharmendra and Bachchan is among the many highlights of the film, one of the biggest hits in Indian cinema history.<\/p>\n As Raheja puts it: \u201cThe rollicking romance between the boisterous tangewali<\/em>\u2026Basanti (Hema Malini), and the flirtatious crook, Veeru\u2026made the screen crackle with infectious humour. And Dharmendra\u2019s partner-in-crime, the wry Amitabh Bachchan, provided the perfect foil to his furiously funny antics \u2014 including the immortal \u2018maasi in jail\u2019 drunken gig atop a water tank.\u201d<\/p>\n After 1975, Dharmendra acted in several action films such as \u2018Dharam Veer\u2019, \u2018Charas\u2019, \u2018Ghazab\u2019 and \u2018Rajput\u2019. In his long career consisting of some 300 films, he also starred in several Punjabi films such as \u2018Do Sher\u2019 (1974), \u2018Dukh Bhanjan Tera Naam\u2019 (1974), and \u2018Putt Jattan De\u2019 (1982). According to Kesavan, it is \u201cone of the many ironies of his career that he did his worst work when he reverted to his roots and began playing the Jat hero, fighting feudal Thakur oppression in films like \u2018Ghulami\u2019, \u2018Yateem\u2019, \u2018Batwara\u2019 and \u2018Kshatriya\u2019\u201d.<\/p>\n In 1997, when Dharmendra received the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award, the legendary Dilip Kumar quipped: \u201cWhenever I get to meet with God Almighty I will set before Him my only complaint \u2014 why did you not make me as handsome as Dharmendra?\u201d When asked why he didn\u2019t get any Best Actor award in his career, Dharmendra later said: \u201cFor me, the greatest award is the love and support of my fans, which I always get. I don\u2019t want to comment on why I did not get an award. But I think I deserved it for \u2018Phool aur Patthar\u2019, \u2018Satyakam\u2019, \u2018Chupke Chupke\u2019, \u2018Pratigya\u2019, \u2018Sholay\u2019 and \u2018Naya Zamana\u2019 among several others.\u201d<\/p>\n Explaining his approach to acting he told The Tribune<\/em> in 2002:\u00a0 \u201cWhen the script suggested a complete and powerful role, one did not have to make effort to be natural. Acting is required only when the role is not strong enough.\u201d<\/p>\n He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2012.<\/p>\n Chronicling Dharmendra\u2019s 55 years in the film industry, Rachit Gupta wrote in Filmfare<\/em> in July 2013: \u201cToday he\u2019s known as the most handsome man to have walked the soils of showbiz inIndia. Back in the \u201970s Dharmendra was considered one of the best looking men in the world\u2026But Dharmendra\u2019s real feat is more impressive than his looks. He\u2019s survived showbiz and he\u2019s survived superstars\u2026[and] despite not carrying favours from the media or the critics, Dharmendra became the industry\u2019s favourite leading man.\u201d<\/p>\n Hinting at perhaps the secret behind his evergreen popularity, Dharmendra said in an interview in 2013: \u201cI don\u2019t want to be inside people\u2019s brain\u2026I live in people\u2019s heart, a place from where no one can throw me out.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n Also on this day:<\/p>\n 1720 \u2014 Nanasaheb Peshwa, prominent Maratha ruler, was born<\/p>\n 1875 \u2014 Tej Bahadur Sapru, leader of the pro-British Raj Liberal party, was born \u00a0<\/p>\n 1900 \u2014 Uday Shankar, dancer and choreographer, was born<\/p>\n 1927 \u2014 Parkash Singh Badal, chief minister of Punjab and leader of Shiromani Akali Dal, was born \u00a0<\/p>\n 1944 \u2014 Sharmila Tagore, Indian film actress, was born \u00a0<\/p>\n 2004 \u2014 C.S. Rao, south Indian filmmaker, passed away\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One of India\u2019s most popular and versatile actors, Dharmendra was born inPunjabon December 8, 1935, and spent most of his childhood in Sahnewal village. His father, Kewal Kishan Singh Deol, was a school headmaster. \u00a0 After completing his college education, Dharmendra won the \u2018New Talent\u2019 contest conducted by Filmfare magazine and, like many other star-struck youngsters of his generation, arrived… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history"],"yoast_head":"\n