Dharmendra, playing the role of an honest engineer Satyapriya Acharya, in Satyakam, is lying on a deathbed and signs some papers for a corrupt contractor. Sharmila Tagore, who is Dharmendra’s wife in the film, tears the documents, and he just smiles. The underplayed emotions are etched in the memory of his fans. He acted in this film in 1969 when he was already an established star.
Known as Garam Dharam, the actor did not shy away from moving from his image in portraying an intense and sensitive character who is unable to come to terms with corruption. He was known for his happy-go-lucky persona. Dharmendra showed his versatility in Pratigya. It is a laughter riot with the actor dancing to the evergreen hit song Main Jat Yamla Pagla Diwana. These two films are the barometer of his range.
Dharmendra was just different, a man who stayed connected to his roots and never let stardom change his attitude towards people till the very end, she said on Monday, remembering her co-star of classics such as Satyakam and Chupke Chupke.
Tagore, who co-starred with him in several films, has only fond memories of the man behind the star — an affable and cooperative human being who met everyone, whether rich or poor, with the same warmth. “I did not find any change in him till the end. As an actor, of course, he was wonderful to act with. In his attitude towards the crowd or people on the set, he was the same affable, cooperative person. He would meet with people, whether rich or poor, with equal warmth. I have seen him hugging a man on the streets without any hesitation.
“He was just different. He never forgot his roots and he would talk about it openly. He was, as they say, a man of the earth and he remained very close to his real self... I didn’t see any change in him with stardom and popularity,” she said. Dharmendra and Tagore worked on a number of movies in Hindi cinema but their pairing in filmmaker Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s films stands out even today. They collaborated on “Anupama” and “Satyakam”, both cited among their best films.
Their most popular film with Mukherjee was the comedy drama “Chupke Chupke” and Tagore believes Dharmendra, who played a botany professor pretending to be a Hindi-speaking driver in the movie, should have won the National Film Award.
“For ‘Chupke Chupke’, he should have got the National Award. He was brilliant. But I think those days they thought comedy was not... Only a serious actor should receive awards, something like that, maybe.” Dharmendra also worked with Mukherjee on “Majhli Didi” with Meena Kumari, “Guddi” with Jaya Bachchan, and “Chaitali” with Saira Banu. Tagore said the director would often tease Dharmendra for playing relatable characters in his movies, in contrast to the actor’s well-established “muscle man” image in mainstream Bollywood movies.
“Hrishida would tease him. He would tell Dharamji, ‘Forget that you are Dharmendra, the muscle man. Here you are playing a very good role’... He would make us laugh... All of us were very relaxed on Hrishida’s set... I think Dharam liked that atmosphere where he wasn’t treated specially or anything. And we did very good films together, from ‘Satyakam’ to ‘Chupke Chupke’ and ‘Anupama’. They were all very good films.”
Tagore said she still remembers how Dharmendra extended his shooting hours for her during the making of “Mere Hamdam Mere Dost”. “I was doing a double shift in the morning. I was shooting from 7 to 2 for another film. And from 2 to 10, I was working for ‘Mere Hamdam Mere Dost’. And we were filming the song, ‘Chhalka ye jaam’. And till 10 o’clock, we couldn’t finish the song. So the director requested me to come the next day,” Tagore recalled.
The actor said she already had the morning shift for another film the next day and in the evening, she had to leave for Kolkata as her husband, cricketer Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, was playing a test match. “I had planned to do that other shooting till 2 o’clock and then catch the 4 o’clock flight or something like that to Kolkata... I requested Dharam if he could extend and finish the song. It was already 10 o’clock... He agreed and we finished the song. Those were the mad days.
“We shot the song till six in the morning... Whenever they (crew) were lighting up for the shot, he would go and sleep or rest in the makeup room. We were shooting at Kardar studio, which doesn’t exist now... He was so sweet. I’ll forever remember that gesture. I can’t think of anybody else who would have done that. They would have said, ‘Rinku (Tagore’s nickname), we love you very much, but we need to sleep.’ Nobody sane would have done it, but Dharam did. He was different. I was forever grateful to him.” The two actors also worked together on “Yakeen”, “Ek Mahal Ho Sapano Ka”, “Devar” and “Sunny”.