Dharmendra
Name: Dharmendra
Birthdate: 8th of December, 1935
Zodiac: Sagittarius
Marital Status: Dharmendra has been maintaining 2 relationships simultaneously. When was of 19 years old, he tied the knot to Prakash Kaur in 1954 and they together are the parents of two sons, Bobby Deol and Sunny Deol, and two daughters named Ajeeta and Vijeeta. Later on, Dharmendra married the renowned actress, Hema Malini and presently they have two daughters Ahana Deol and Esha Deol.
Awards:
1) In the year 2012, Dharmendra was honoured with the prestigious Padma Bhushan by the Indian Government.
2) In 1991, Dharmendra was given the National Film Award inthe ‘Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment’ category for the movie ‘Ghayal’, for which he was the producer. Same year ‘Ghayal’ (1990) received the Filmfare Best Movie Award as well.
3) Six years later in 1997, Dharmendra was honoured with the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award for his significant contribution to the Indian film industry.
4) Some other awards received by Dharmendra are as follows:
> In the1970s, he was voted as the world’s most handsome person.
> He also has to his credit, the World Iron Man Award.
> Dharmendra had also received the ‘Living Legend Award’ from the FICCI for his dedication and exceptional contribution to the film industry in India.
> In the year 2003, at the Sansui Viewers’ Choice Film Awards, he was awarded with one Lifetime Achievement Award.
> Next year in 2004, Dharmendra was given an honour for the Best Contribution to Indian Cinema. The following year, he was awarded the Zee Cine Lifetime Achievement Award.
> He also got another Lifetime Achievement Award at PIFF (Pune International Film Festival) in 2007. Same year he also received two more Lifetime Achievement Awards: one from the IIFA and another given by DBR Entertainment.
> That very year, a Punjabi newspaper named ‘Quami Ekta’ also honoured Dharmendra for his outstanding contribution to the film industry.
> At the well-known Max Stardust Award ceremony, Dharmendra was named ‘Actor Par Excellence’ in 2008.
> Same year, he got the coveted Lifetime Achievement Award at the 10th MAMI International Film Festival. Next year, he got another similar award at the NIFF.
> A year later in 2010, at the Big Star Entertainment Awards, Dharmendra was honoured with the title of the ‘Big Star Entertainer’.
> In the year 2011, at the Apsara Awards, Dharmendra was awarded with a Lifetime Achievement Award. That year, he also received the ‘Salaam Maharashtra Award’ for completing a span of fifty years in the Indian Film Industry.Same year, at the Global Indian Film & Television Honours, Dharmendra was given an honour, for his outstanding performance during the 50 years of his career.
> He was also given the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke award in 2011. He had also been bestowed with the prestigious ‘The ITA Scroll of Honour’ in the occasion of the Indian Television Academy Awards.
> In the year 2012, at the prestigious PTC Punjabi Film Awards, Dharmendra was given the ‘Icon of Punjab Award’.
Trivia:
1) In the year 2011, Dharmendra appeared on the television reality show called ‘India’s Got Talent’ as the judge.
2) In the domain of politics, Dharmendra has played an active role. At the 2004 general elections, Dharmendra was elected as a Member of the Parliament from the north western city of Rajasthan on a BJP (Bharatiya Janata Park).
3) In the year 2000, Dharmendra set up Vijayta Films, his very own production house. It’s very first film was the 1983 flick called ‘Betaab’, having Sunny Deol in the lead role.
Biography: Dharam Singh Deol, known popularly as Dharmendra was born on the 8th of December, 1935 to a Punjabi Sikh background, in the Indian state of Punjab. Kewal Kishan Singh Deol was his father and Satwant Kaur, his mother. He spent his early part of his childhood days at a village named Sahnewal. His father was the village school master at Lalton, Ludhiana. Dharmendra after winning the Filmfare new talent award, he shifted to the metropolitan city of Mumbai in search for work.
He began his illustrious career with the 1960 Arjun Hingorani directed ‘Dil Bhi Tera Hum Bhi Tere’, starring Dharmendra himself, Balraj Sahni and Kum Kum. After this film he appeared in various other black and white romantic moviesand he got his first major breakthrough with the 1966 O. P. Ralhan directed blockbuster film named ‘Phool Aur Patthar’ (1966). This film catapulted him to greater heights of fame and glory, as this movie was the highest grossing movie that year and Dharmendra also earned his first Filmfare nomination in the Best Actor category for this film. At the initial stages of his career, Dharmendra was often portrayed in films as a romantic hero but sooner after 1974, he started playing action roles in films. During his initial days in the industry, he got the opportunity to star with some of the renowned actresses of his times. He worked with the actress, Nutan on the sets of ‘Bandini’ (1963) and ‘Soorat Aur Seerat’ (1962). He even worked with Meena Kumari in ‘Kaajal’ (1965), ‘Phool Aur Patthar’ (1966), ‘Poornima’ (1965) and ‘Main Bhi Ladki Hoon’ (1964); with Mala Singh in ‘Pooja Ke Phool’ (1964) and in ‘Anpadh’ (1962) and with Saira Banu in the 1964 film titled ‘Ayee Milan Ki Bela’ and in ‘Shaadi’, the 1962 film. He displayed great on screen chemistries with actresses such as Hema Malini, Zeenat Aman, Sharmila Tagore, Rekha, Saira Banu, Meena Kumari, Asha Parekh and Mumtaz. Dharmendra and Hema Malini was the most successful on-screen pairing that time and together they gave several hits which include ‘Raja Jani’, ‘Sharafat’, ‘Seeta Aur Geeta’, ‘Tum Haseen Main Jawaan’, ‘Dost’, ‘Jugnu’, ‘Charas’, ‘Chacha Bhatija’, ‘Maa’, ‘Sholay’ and ‘Azad’.
His most noteworthy performance was in Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s 1969 film named ‘Satyakam’ and in Ramesh Sippy’s action adventure packed ‘Sholay’ (1975). ‘Sholay’ became one of the greatest films in the history of Indian Cinema. In the seventies and eighties, Dharmendra starred in numerous movies such as ‘Dharam Veer’, ‘Pratigya’, ‘Azad’, ‘Charas’, ‘Katilon Ke Kaatil’, ‘Bhagawat’, ‘Ghazab’, ‘Dharam Aur Kanoon’, ‘Raj Tilak’, ‘Hukumat’, ‘Aag Hi Aag’, ‘Watan Ke Rakhwale’, ‘Hathyar’, ‘Loha’ and ‘Ghulami’.
Dharmendra has even worked in different types of films with various directors such as: with Mohan Kumar and Bimal Roy in drama based films, Raghunath Jhalani and Yash Chopra in romantic movies, Ramesh Sippy, Raj Khosla, Anil Sharma, Rajkumar Santoshi and Arjun Hingorani in action movies and with Basu Chatterjee, Rajkumar Kohli and Hrishikesh Mukherjee in comedy packed flicks.
Besides Hindi films, Dharmendra had also appeared in several Punjabi films as well. These include ‘Kankan De Ole’ (1970) where he made a special appearance, ‘Dukh Bhanjan Tera Naam’ (1974), ‘Do Sher’ (1974), ‘Teri Meri Ik Jindri’ in 1975, ‘Qurbani Jatt Di’ in the year 1990 and the 1982 film, ‘Putt Jattan De’.
Dharmendra as producer introduced both of his sons in the industry: Bobby Deol in the Rajkumar Santoshi directed 1995 romantic film named ‘Barsaat’ and Sunny Deol in Rahul Rawail’s ‘Betaab’ in 1983. He even launched Abhay Deol, his nephew, in Imtiaz Ali’s 2005 flick, ‘Socha Na Tha’, starring Abhay Deol, Apoorva Jha and Ayesha Takia.
Some of his latest films are ‘Life In a… Metro’, ‘Apne’, ‘Johnny Gaddaar’, ‘Om Shanti Om’, ‘Yamla Pagla Deewana’ and ‘Tell Me O Kkhuda’.
As a producer, he produced the following films: ‘Ghayal’ (1990), ‘Barsaat’ (1995), ‘Indian’ (2001), ‘23rd March 1931: Shaheed’ (2003), ‘Socha Na Tha’ (2005) and ‘Apne’ (2007).
