When Hema Malini said she never cooked for Dharmendra to ‘make him happy’: ‘Both of us were busy with work’

Hema Malini once shared that she learnt cooking when her daughters, Esha and Ahana Deol, got upset with her over not cooking for them.

By: Entertainment Desk

New Delhi | July 3, 2023 03:02 PM IST

3 min read

Hema Malini with Dharmendra and daughters, Esha and Ahana. (Photo: Esha Deol/Instagram)

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The Dream Girl of Bollywood Hema Malini married the ‘He-Man’ of the industry, Dharmendra, on May 2, 1980. Coming from a Punjabi family, Dharmendra was always fond of food. But, Hema Malini never cooked food to impress him. She only learnt cooking when her daughters, Esha and Ahana Deol, got upset with her over not cooking for them.

During one of her appearances on The Kapil Sharma Show, Hema shared, “I never had to cook. I never had to cook to make Dharam Ji happy. Both of us were busy with work.”

However, things changed with the birth of her daughters. “But then when the kids were born, then I realised how important it is to know cooking. When she (Esha) used to go to school, her friends will show her, ‘See my mother has made this, my mother had made that.’ They would ask her, ‘What has your mother made?’ So, they would come home and get very angry and say, ‘Aap kuch nahi bana rahe hain (You are not cooking anything).’ So, I felt bad and I called my mother and told her that because you didn’t teach me cooking, I am facing this,” Hema recalled.

Also read | Hema Malini on why she never met Dharmendra’s first wife Prakash Kaur: ‘I have never spoken to her… I respect her a lot’

Hema Malini then started cooking during her family holidays abroad. She would call her mother in India from London for recipes and cook rasam and other things for her daughters. She added, “My full-fledged cooking began during our holidays abroad. I would call my mother from London to Bombay and ask her what to do.”

Esha, who had accompanied her mother on the show, added, “All of this used to happen abroad, where its fun to have Indian food. Amma used to make rasam there and we would not eat at restaurants. We would roam around London and then come to the apartment and ask for ‘Mummy ka rasam’.”

Also read | Dharmendra pens note about ‘age and illness’ for Hema Malini, Esha, Ahana after they gave Karan Deol’s wedding a skip: ‘Could have spoken personally to you, but…’

But, Hema Malini never developed a taste for typical Punjabi food. When Kapil asked her if she never tried ‘paranthe’ since Dharmendra hails from Punjab where people are fond of the ‘paranthe’, the Sholay actor replied, “When he comes to our place, he loves to eat idli, sambhar and dosa.”

Hema Malini is the second wife of Dharmendra. He was first married to Prakash Kaur, with whom he has two sons, Bobby and Sunny Deol.

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