With his effortless ability to shift through intense, understated performances and larger-than-life action heroes, Dharmendra was an all-rounder, who effortlessly embodied all kinds of roles in an era where biggest of the heroes found it difficult to break out of their prescribed image.
Here is a look at the top 10 films that shine through in his career of over 300 movies:
1. Sholay: The 1975 classic just celebrated its golden jubilee and it is also one of the most important films in Dharmendra and co-star Amitabh Bachchan’s filmographies. Dharmendra’s playful, emotional and heart on his sleeves Veeru was the perfect foil to Bachchan’s Jai, who would lower his guard only around his friend. Veeru was the fighter and Jai his perfect wingman.
The Ramesh Sippy-directed film is one of the best examples of bromance in Hindi cinema. Dharmendra’s romance with Hema Malini and his drunk scenes are also iconic as is the dialogue ‘Basanti! inn kutton ke saamne mat naachna’.
2. Chupke Chupke: In 1975, Dharmendra showed his versatility with “Sholay” and “Chupke Chupke”, two very different films.
In “Chupke Chupke”, he played botany professor Parimal Tripathi, who falls in love with Sharmila Tagore’s Sulekha. She is in awe of her intellectual brother-in-law, Raghavendra. Parimal disguises himself as Hindi-loving Pyare Mohan and gets employed as a driver at Raghvendra’s place and this leads to all kinds of funny situations. It is one of Dharmendra’s most endearing performances. Bachchan teamed up with Dharmendra again in the film that also featured Om Prakash and Jaya Bhaduri.
3. Anupama: In this 1966 film, Mukherjee teamed up with Dharmendra for the first time. The actor played a sensitive young man named Ashok, a writer and teacher who helps Sharmila Tagore’s Uma come out of her shell as an introverted person who longs for her father’s approval.
She falls for Ashok but does not want to go against her father’s wishes, who seems to hate him. Mukherjee, who once called Dharmendra his favourite actor, repeated him many films including “Majhli Didi”, “Guddu” and “Chaitali”.