Hema Malini and Dharmendra are Bollywood's evergreen couple. The duo broke all the norms and stereotypes to spend their lives together. She was the shy South Indian diva who, over the period, earned the title of ‘Dream Girl’. Dharmendra, on the other hand, was the macho He-Man of Bollywood, who enjoyed a massive fame following because of his charming looks.
But when the Punjabi munda laid eyes on the southern beauty, a magical love story was weaved. Hema and Dharmendra fell in love on the sets of Tum Haseen Main Jawan in 1970. While it was love at first sight for Dharmendra, Hema couldn’t help but fall for his wit and charm. But the duo faced a lot of difficulties to culminate their love into marriage.
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The biggest hindrance to Hema and Dharmendra’s love was that the actor was already a married man. Dharmendra got married to Prakash Kaur in 1957, and the couple welcomed four children: Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol, Vijeeta Deol, and Ajeeta Deol. However, despite being married, Dharmendra couldn’t stop falling in love with Hema Malini.
After falling in love with one another, Hema Malini and Dharmendra started meeting secretly as they didn’t want anyone else to know about their affair. They would meet outside and on the film sets, and nobody tried to keep their relationship a secret. When Hema’s mother, Jaya Chakravarthy got to know about her daughter’s affair with Dharmendra, she got paranoid.
As per Hema Malini’s biography, Hema Malini: Beyond The Dream Girl, her mother, Jaya tried to convince her to get married to Jeetendra. In fact, Jaya knew that Jeetendra also had a soft corner for Hema and that he himself had approached her quite a few times. But since, Hema was madly in love with Dharmendra, she settled being friends with Jeetendra.
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Since Hema’s mother, Jaya, wanted to get her daughter married, she convinced the actress to marry Jeetendra and on her mom’s request, she met his family, too. Jaya kept forcing her daughter Hema to settle down with Jeetendra as she had no future with Dharam because of his marital status. At last, Hema agreed, and the two families flew down to Chennai for Hema and Jeetendra’s secret marriage.
The news was leaked, and it soon reached Dharmendra’s ears; he didn’t waste any time and reached the venue along with Jeetendra’s girlfriend, Shobha Sippy. Despite being repeatedly asked to leave, a ‘slightly drunk’ Dharmendra refused to budge. Just like in Hindi cinema, the scene was quite dramatic. As per the biography, Hema’s father yelled at Dharmendra and said:
“Why don’t you get out of my daughter’s life? You are a married man, you can’t marry my daughter.”
After a lot of arguments, Dharmendra was allowed to speak to Hema alone in a separate room. While the two spoke, Jeetendra and Hema’s family waited outside. As per the book, Dharmendra begged his ladylove, Hema not to make the mistake of marrying Jeetendra. The book can be quoted as:
“Inside the room, the two were going through an emotional turmoil of catastrophic proportions. Dharmendra, distraught and on the verge of falling to pieces, kept begging Hema not to make such a ‘big mistake’. Outside, it was Shobha’s turn to give vent to her rage. When a nonchalant Jeetendra announced to Shobha his decision to marry Hema, apparently all hell broke loose.”
After Hema and Dharmendra came out of the room, she asked Jeetendra’s family to give her some time. The insult was too big for Jeetendra’s family, so they stormed out angrily. Since Dharmendra was already married to Prakash Kaur, marrying Hema was difficult for him, as Prakash refused to give him a divorce.
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It was on May 2, 1980, when Hema and Dharmendra got married in Iyengar style. But not many people know that before their traditional marriage, the couple had a secret nikah in 1979. For the secret nikah ceremony, Hema and Dharmendra converted to Islam and changed their names. As per reports, their nikahnama stated:
"Dilawar Khan Kewal Krishn (44 years) accepted Aisha Bi R. Chakravarty (29 years) as his wife on 21 August 1979 at a mehr of Rs 111,000 in the presence of two legal witnesses."
Dharmendra and Hema had acted together in 42 movies, and their on-screen chemistry was always a hit. In an interview, Hema Malini said that it was the song, Main Jat Yamla Pagla Deewana, wherein she had fallen for Dharmendra. She also revealed that it was his cute dance moves in the song, which had made her fall in love with him immediately. It was rumoured while shooting a particular scene in Sholay, that Dharmendra had lured the light boys with money to disturb the lights on the set. The continuous retakes had given him many chances to hold Hema Malini several times.
Dharmendra and Hema Malini's love story had many ups and downs; however, they defied all the odds.
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