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Journalism of Courage
Once when eminent director Jabbar Patel met Dharmendra, all that the actor wanted to talk about was art films, the kind of cerebral cinema that filmmakers, such as Patel, were making. “Why not ask us to do some roles? I can be good for your kind of cinema, don’t worry about money,” said Dharmendra, one of the biggest stars of mainstream Bollywood.
“The point is he was absolutely craving for good roles,” said Patel on Monday, as news filtered in that Dharmendra passed away in Mumbai. Patel called him “a wonderful actor and very handsome; the kind of handsomeness that is rare in Indian cinema”.
Across the city, cine lovers shared memories of their best-loved role of the superstar and what Dharmendra had symbolised. The Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) mourned the passing of a legend who brought his “enduring charms” into cinema and won the “immeasurable love of the audience”. “His remarkable legacy will continue to inspire generations coming ahead,” said FTII in an official statement.
Patel highlighted the mix of masculinity and pleasantness that Dharmendra brought to the screen. He was a different sort of actor right from the time he caught everybody’s attention with Bimal Roy’s Bandini. “He used the technique of underacting or natural acting very effectively. We must also remember that very few Indian actors have such a sense of humour,” says Patel, pointing out that, though Dharmendra’s main languages were Punjabi and Urdu, he effectively played a professor of Sanskrit in Dillagi.
The Fifth Pune International Film festival, in 2007, had honoured Dharmendra and Asha Parekh with Lifetime Achievement Awards. According to Kashyapsingh Chudasama, a close friend of Dharmendra and Pune Festival trustee, “I have known Dharmendra ji since 1984. Hema Malini would always come for the Pune Festival, so I got to know Dharmendra ji quite well. He was very rooted. He had a farmhouse in Lonavala that he was fond of. I have met him there several times. He used to talk about his village and his relatives. He was very attached to his village,” says Chudasama.
Praveen Walimbe, who was the PRO of the Pune International Film Festival, said, “I noticed how he had no airs. He was accommodating, even posing for photographs with everyone.”
Chudasama also recalls how Dharmendra would connect easily with people in Bikaner, where he stood for elections in 2004 and won. “He never differentiated between the common person and celebrities. He couldn’t see anybody suffering,” says Chudasama.
Subhas Sana, a family friend, shed light on another facet of Dharmendra’s personality – his enjoyment of good food. “Every Diwali, we used to gift him faral and he used to love the chakli, sev and laddu. Last year, I couldn’t meet him in Mumbai so he called me to Khandala. And we could meet. He was a very down-to-earth man,” says Sanas.
