Dharam Singh Deol: filmography and biography. Dharmendra: best roles

The people's love of Indian cinema among the inhabitants of the former Soviet Union is still a mystery. Of course, today there are a lot of those who enjoy watching paintings with the participation of modern Bollywood stars. However, their popularity among Russians is nothing compared to the love that the audience experienced for actors of Indian cinema from the 60s-80s of the last century. Among these veteran stars of the first magnitude is Dharmendra. Biography, personal life and the filmography of the actor are presented below. And it will be interesting to get acquainted with those who enjoyed watching movies with his participation.

Youth

The future star of Indian cinema - Dharam Singh Deol - was born in 1935 in the village of Nasrali Ludhiana County, Punjab. His family was extremely strong conservative traditions of the Sikhs. Dharam graduated from the school in Lalton Kalan, whose director was his father. He continued his education at Ramaghrya College in Phagwara. At the age of 19, at the request of his parents, he married a girl named Prakash Kau and went to work for an American company engaged in metal processing.

Debut in the cinema

By the end of the 1950s, the future actor had a typical biography for a young man from a middle-income family. Dharmendra, most likely, worked all his life as a clerk, if not for a lucky chance. The fact is that in 1959 he made a fateful step, taking part in a competition organized by the well-known in India magazine Filmfare. The publication was engaged in the search for new faces for the film industry. A handsome young man, whose growth for India was considered quite high (173 cm), immediately attracted the attention of the jury.

In particular, producer Arjun Hingorani signed with Dharam a contract for the performance of one of the roles in the film "And life, and the heart - for you." According to this document, the debutant's reward was to be only 51 rupees, and he was promised a daily breakfast consisting of a cup of tea with toast in a cafe at the television studio. Although the picture was not successful with the audience, the young man who took the pseudonym Dharmendra (biography, photos and details of his personal life are presented below), still noticed. Thus, the film Arjuna Hingorani became for him a springboard to a successful career.

Biography in the first half of the 60's

In the early sixties, the novice actor had a very small choice of roles. As he himself admitted later, when signing a contract for him, the decisive factor was the personality of the partner on the set. Among the most successful works of the Dharmendra of this period are films: "Prisoner" (1963), "Irony of Fate" (1962) and Main Bhi Ladki Hoon (1964). In addition, the actor starred in the famous Indian movie criticism of the mid-1960s, "The Era of Love," where Bollywood superstars Rajendra Kumar and Saira Banu shone. Somewhat later Dharmendra appeared before the audience in the films "Reality", "Shadows" and "Mother's Love". They brought him fame not only at home, but also abroad.

Big success

Despite many successful works, until 1966, the actor Dharmendra (biography in his youth is presented above) was not among the stars of Indian cinema. Real fame came to him after playing the main role in the film "Flower and Stone". In this film the partner of Dharmendra was Mina Kumari. The picture was shown in the USSR, where it was watched by more than 46 million people.

According to the plot, the hero is a professional criminal Shaka, who is going to rob a house in a village abandoned by residents because of the plague epidemic. There he finds the sick widow Shanti (Mina Kumar), which her evil native husband left to die alone. Pity awakens in Shaki's heart. He begins to take care of an unhappy woman. When the owners return, they are astonished to see that Shanti not only stayed alive, but also recovered. One day the brother-in-law enters the widow's room to rape her, but Shaka rescues her in time. Together they leave the village under the cover of night.

Hema Malini

Dharmendra, whose biography in India is known to everyone, also played in the super popular in the USSR film "Zita and Gita." His partner in this picture was Hema Malini. This beautiful actress perfectly coped with the difficult task of creating images of two sisters-twins with completely different characters. On the set, Dharmendra and Hema met before. In particular, in 1970 the film "Beautiful and Stubborn" appeared on the screens. Together, the actors played in 35 films, many of which became real hits. Among them are such films as "Loved Raja" (1972), "Revenge and Law" (1975), "Hard Destiny", "Samrat", "King of the Jungle", etc.

"The Adventures of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves"

This picture is remarkable for the fact that Indian actors played it together with their Soviet counterparts. The film was shot based on the well-known "Fairy Tales of 1000 and One Night". Dharmendra played the leading role of Ali Baba, and his girlfriend - Princess Margina - Hema Malini. From the Soviet actors in the picture were invited Rolan Bykov, Sofiko Chiaureli, Yakub Ahmedov, Frunzik Mkrtchyan, Elena Sanayeva, Zakir Mukhamedzhanov, etc. In 1980, "The Adventures of Ali Baba" was watched by almost 53 million people. And in India it was shown in cinemas for 6 months in a row and also had a big box office success.

By the way, in the second joint work of the directors Latif Faiziev and Umesh Mehra - "The Legend of Love" - the main role went to the son of Dharmendra - Sani Deol. He repeated the success of his father and also managed to win the hearts of Soviet spectators.

Romantic love story

Scenarios of many famous films, in which Dharmendra played, fade in front of a love story, the main character of which was himself and Hema Malini. Becoming a constant partner of Dharmendra on the screen, the actress won his heart. In 1975, on the set of the film "Revenge and Law" actors could no longer hide mutual affection. However, their relationship could not be approved by colleagues. After all, everyone knew that Hema had no chance of becoming Dharmendra's legitimate wife, since at that time the actor had been married for a long time to Prakash Kau. The wife resignedly resigned his long absences. And he had nothing to reproach her with.

Hem's family, especially her father, was horrified to learn about the novel of the daughter with the married man. Her parents began to urgently look for her suitors. As the actress later recalled, her mother constantly showed her pictures of potential candidates for her hand and heart, but no one was interested in the girl except Dharmendra. The situation was complicated by the fact that Heme was starred by the stars of Indian cinema - Jitendra and Sanjeev Kumar. The latter played along with Hemoy in the movie "Zita and Gita" and fell in love with his partner without a memory. Both young men were single. And the family of the actress demanded that she choose one of them as her husband. Hema was adamant in her decision not to marry anyone other than Dharmendra. In this case, the actor himself assured his wife that he was not going to divorce her.

Second marriage

The biography of Dharmendra also contains a story about the unexpected solution of the problem of the complex love triangle of Hemah, Prakash and Dharmendra. It became possible after the death of the actress's father in 1978. This tragic event made the young woman bolder. And she agreed to become the second wife of her lover. From that moment began their joint biography. Dharmendra and Hema concluded a marriage that became a sensation. It was widely covered and discussed in the yellow press of India. The fact is that in Hinduism there is no polygamy, but the actor managed to convince the brahmanas to bless his union with Hema, without dissolving marriage with Prakash.

The wedding of two stars was more than modest. Religious ceremony was held in the home atmosphere in the presence of only the closest relatives. Ironically, Indian society, extremely conservative in all matters relating to family and marriage, did not condemn Hemu and Dharmendra. They continued to appear on the screen as part of the now family duo and they continued to adore. Suffice it to say that Hema and Dharmendra (the biography is presented above) earned together 7.36 billion rupees. This result almost doubled the sum of another famous couple - Nargis and Raja Kapoor.

Dharmendra, biography: family

From two marriages the actor has 6 children. The first wife of Prakash gave birth to Dharmendra's sons Bobby and Sani and daughters Viget and Azheta. Each of them has an interesting biography. Dharmendra is especially proud of his sons, who became actors and 3-4 years ago even competed with his father. So, in 2002, Bobby was awarded the prestigious and oldest Bollywood award for the Filmfare Award, whose laureate a few years before became Sunny. As for the children from Hema Malini, the actress gave birth to the wife of two daughters, Eshu and Achanu. The eldest of them became an actress, continuing her family tradition. In addition, since childhood, both young girls studied dance in the style of Bharatanatyam. Today they often perform on stage together, and sometimes with their mother.

Political activity

In recent years, the actor realized that he was not satisfied with his own biography. Dharmendra decided to write in it a few pages, not related to the movie. In particular, he took up active political and public activities. Together with Hema Malini, with the effective support of the Indian People's Party, he joined the Council of States of the Upper Chamber of the Indian Parliament. In addition, the official biography of Dharmendra also contains another interesting fact: the actor was awarded the third most important civil award of his country's government - the Order of the Cavalier Padma Bhushan.

The most famous movies

Among the most successful films of actor Dharmendra (Dharam Singh Deola) are:

• "Prisoner" (1963);
• "Shadows" (1965);
• "Flower and Stone" (1966);
• "Mother's Love" (1967);
• "Beautiful and stubborn" (1970);
• "On the Sly" (1971);
• "Zita and Gita" (1972);
• "My name is Clown" (1972);
• "Beloved Raja" (1972);
• "Revenge and the Law" (1975);
• "The King of the Jungle" (1976);
• "The eternal fairy tale of love" (1977);
• Shalimar (1978);
• "The Burning Train" (1980);
• Samrat (1982);
• "As the Three Musketeers" (1984);
• "Do not be afraid of love" (1998);
• "When one life is not enough" (2007).

Now you know who Dharmendra is. Biography, personal life and the filmography of the actor you are also known. And, perhaps, this information will help you unravel the secret of its popularity among the older generation of Russians.