Dharmendra’s swan song Ikkis to include a special homage to him? Co-writer says ‘His final performance will speak’

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“Yes, I am sure Sriram and Dinoo (Dinesh Vijan, producer) will do that. His final performance will speak more than any tribute from us, I feel,” Pooja tells SCREEN exclusively. “I am so saddened that he left us before Ikkis release. He would have been thrilled. What a tremendous actor Dharam ji was, a superstar for the ages. And an amazing person, full of grace, warmth, enthusiasm and a generosity of spirit that was singular, extraordinary,” she adds.

Pooja recalls how Dharmendra was “a bit frail” on the sets of Ikkis, but would get “supercharged” as soon as he’d be on set. “He would happily shoot as many takes as required. For someone as experienced as him, he would be as eager or more eager than even newbies. I have seen this in Ikkis, and even in Johnny Gaddaar,” says Pooja.

Sriram recalls two key memories with Dharmendra while directing him in the 2007 neo-noir crime thriller. “I was so nervous when I went to narrate him the film for the first time. Not just because of the stalwart he was, but also because the invincible Dharam ji was supposed to be killed at the end of the first half of Johnny Gaddaar,” says Sriram.

The filmmaker remembers Dharmendra listening to his narration intently. After the full narration, the actor would indeed point out that he has issues with the second half, but added that wasn’t the case because he’s not in it. “You have a certain perception when you approach a star like him. But even then, he was thinking more about the film, than just his role, which wasn’t even there in the second half,” says Sriram.

Another instance that the director recalls is while shooting the scene in which Dharmendra’s character gets killed by Neil Nitin Mukesh’s. “We’d thought a lot about the weapon of choice. Initially, it was an ice pick. Then it was a knife. But Dharam ji insisted it be a gun. A gun was too cliched a weapon in crime thrillers. But he said that it’s only a gun that would do justice because he’s Dharmendra. That made sense,” recalls Sriram. It would still take over half a dozen gun shots for his character to go down in the film.

Ishita Moitra, screenwriter who recently worked with Dharmendra in Karan Johar’s 2023 hit family comedy Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, recalled her experiences with the actor on set. “I was fortunate to have spent some time with him on the sets of Rocky Aur Rani, where he spoke about his cinematic journey. Because the film had a Bengali and Punjabi love story, he also spoke about the influence that Bengali filmmakers like Bimal Roy and Hrishikesh Mukherjee had on him,” recalls Ishita, referring to the interregional love story between Dharmendra’s Punjabi character Kanwal and Shabana Azmi’s Bengali character Jamini in the film.

Ishita also revealed a lesser known fact about the actor, that he was well-versed with Urdu poetry. “His eyes sparkled whilst talking about Urdu poetry and he recited many Urdu couplets. I was just amazed at his memory and how the sher simply rolled off his tongue. To me, he was the epitome of sensitive masculinity. Of strength rooted in empathy and kindness,” says Ishita, adding that she’s  always been in awe of how he was equally comfortable in films as diverse as Anupama (1966), Satyakam (1969), Bandini (1963), Chupke Chupke (1975), Guddi (1971), and Sholay (1975).

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Dharmendra was indeed as skilled a romantic hero as he was an action star. Sham Kaushal, veteran action director, talks to SCREEN about working with him as both a stuntman and a fight master in a spate of his action movies of the 1980s. “I’m too small a person to say something about Dharam ji. Heroes like him aren’t born everyday. The Hindi film industry was blessed to have such a raw man, jo mitti se juda hua tha. He had so much honesty, integrity, and transparency on his face all the time. It was one of the biggest blessings to work with him,” says Kaushal.