Dharmendra combined machismo and romantic images like no other
To me, Dharmendra became a symbol of machismo with a robust physical frame which a slim Bengali youth I was at that time wanted to possess
I was never a fan of Bollywood. But the only actor I liked, nay adored, in Hindi cinema in late 1960s as a school student in Delhi was Dharmendra.
I confine my take on the actor with just a few films which hung on my mind long after I saw them in cinema halls in Delhi quite a few years after their commercial release.
My introduction to Dharmendra was through the film "Phool Aur Paththar" (1966) opposite the queen of tragedy Meena Kumari.
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The role of a thief (Shaaka) played by Dharmendra and the relationship that blooms with Shaanti (Meena Kumari) impressed my mind, then his late teens. What stuck with me is the way Shaaka jumped from a tree into a moving goods train.
To me, Dharmendra became a symbol of machismo with a robust physical frame which a slim Bengali youth I was at that time wanted to possess. Those were not the era of six packs or eight packs but a god-gifted physique with biceps which did not need to be worked on further.
My next impressionable Dharmendra movies were in an entirely different avatar of the actor, gentle and intensely romantic, both with Sharmila Tagore and directed by Hrishikeh Mukherjee in "Satyakaam" and "Anupama."
The memorable songs of the two films in Dharmendra's lips added to the appeal for me. In a short time, Dharmendra appeared to me as a person blending machismo, sensitivity and charisma. I was convinced he was not only "Garam Dharam" but also "Naram Dharam" and he could slip into the contrasting roles with consummate ease.
Another Hrishikesh Mukherjee film "Guddi" starring Dharmendra and Jaya Bhaduri also swayed me a lot. Then there was Bimal Roy's "Bandini" which I saw during my college years at a Durga Puja pandal in Delhi.
Two more films "Mere Humdum Mere Dost," "Baharein Phir Bhi Aayengi" "Guddi" and then, of course, "Sholay" convinced me that Dharmendra was an actor who is equally at home in switching roles from beating the villains to serenading the ladies.
The romantic image was well recreated by Dharmendra even when he was in his late 80s when he teamed up with Shabana Azmi in Karan Johar's "Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani" in 2023. Age failed to dim the twinkling of Dharmendra's eyes and the warm smile.
Hrishikesh Mukherjee had imagined Dharmendra differently from the rough and tough screen persona of several of his other movies.
So, it will perhaps be a little out of sorts for cinema lovers when they see Dharmendra in his last feature film "Ikkis," a war drama, which hits the screens in December this year. For, Dharmendra was much more than a "He-man."
