Dharmendra had a ‘tough time’ dubbing for Ikkis, recalls director; says late star would rewrite his lines in Urdu

Sriram continued, “At that time, I could see that he was having a tough time dubbing. I told him to get better soon. We had finished our work with him, I thought I would show him the entire film in a month. That is a big regret. He was really looking forward to watching the film. It’s like when 1942: A Love Story happened, RD Burman wasn’t there to get the accolades.”

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Sriram recalled that shooting Jaideep Ahlawat and Dharmendra’s scenes together was a different experience altogether. “Jaideep has the maximum scenes with Dharam ji. They have to work together, not how they are good actors separately, (but I) wanted the chemistry. We began with their scenes first while shooting the film. We all were in awe of Dharam ji, so when Jaideep came, the ice was instantly broken,” he said and added, “Jaideep says the dialogues under his breath and Dharam ji probably found it a bit hard to understand. He would ask, ‘What is he saying?’. I would tell him not to worry, and ask Jaideep to speak a bit loudly. So, all that used to happen during their scenes.”

However, Dharmendra was extremely well prepared to do his scenes. “The good thing about Dharam ji was that he used to be prepared enough to know the other actor’s lines. He used to rewrite his own lines in Urdu, and the other actor’s cues as well. He used to do his own preparation. It was wonderful actually.” In fact, the late superstar gave a couple of options of takes to choose from. “He even used to try variations and write it down. So much of the film is the way he speaks also. I used to give him the basic content, lines, and then ask him how his character would say it. He used to give options to choose from,” he revealed.

The Merry Christmas director also shared that one of the major reasons behind giving a nod to Ikkis was Dharmendra. “When I got this story, it’s almost like, maybe, a part of my decision to do this film might have been Dharam ji. It could have been a subconscious influence of me saying, ‘Wow, what a wonderful role for him’ and saying yes in five minutes. When I narrated the story to him, even before I had any other cast done, he loved the story.”

He shared that he shared the idea for the film with Dharmendra even before his last film Merry Christmas, and the veteran star would constantly ask him when he would start Ikkis. “Over the last 4-5 years, he used to ask when we would be starting Ikkis. Merry Christmas release was still pending but we began shooting. You go meet him, he talks about it, gives ideas and suggestions regarding the scenes. It’s all for you to take or leave, it has been an extremely wonderful experience,” he concluded.

Dharmendra passed away at 89 on November 24.