Dharmendra

He fell in love with Hema Malini, his co-star in several films and wanted to marry her. Since he did not want to divorce his first wife, he converted to Islam in 1979 and changed his name to Dilawar Khan. Then he married Hema Malini in 1980. The couple has two daughters, Isha Deol and Ahana Deol.

Dharmendra was born as Dharam Singh Deol on 8 December 1935 in Nasrali, a village in Ludhiana district, Punjab, India, to Kewal Kishan Singh Deol and Satwant Kaur. His father was a school headmaster in the village of Lalton Kalan, Ludhiana.

His early years were spent in the village of Sahnewal and he received his education from Government Senior Secondary School at Lalton Kalan. He completed his intermediate education from Ramgarhia College, Phagwara in 1952.

Young, well-built, and good-looking, he developed an interest in the show business and won the ‘Filmfare’ magazine's new talent award. Following this he decided to pursue an acting career and moved to Mumbai in search of better prospects.

He made his debut with Arjun Hingorani's ‘Dil Bhi Tera Hum Bhi Tere’ in 1960. Soon other opportunities followed and he was cast in a romantic role in several films between 1960 and 1967. These include: ‘Soorat Aur Seerat’ (1962), ‘Anpadh’ (1962), ‘Bandini’ (1963), ‘Dil Ne Phir Yaad Kiya’ (1966) and ‘Dulhan Ek Raat Ki’ (1967).

The 1960s also marked his emergence as an action hero. The 1966 movie ‘Phool Aur Patthar’ was his first action film and he became established as an action hero following the success of the 1971 film ‘Mera Gaon Mera Desh. By the mid-1970s, he was acclaimed as both a romantic lead and an action hero.

Dharmendra made a very successful on-screen pairing with actress Hema Malini who he would eventually marry. The couple starred together in many films including ‘Raja Jani’, ‘Seeta Aur Geeta’, ‘Sharafat’, ‘Naya Zamana’, and ‘Sholay’. His role of Veeru in ‘Sholay’ is considered one of his best performances.

His streak of success continued throughout the 1970s and by the 1980s he was ready to venture into film production as well. He set up a production company known as Vijayta Films in 1983 and launched his son, Sunny Deol, as the lead actor in the movie ‘Betaab’. He also produced the movie ‘Ghayal’, also starring Sunny in 1990.

Dharmendra played the role of Veeru in the epic action-adventure film ‘Sholay’ which also had Amitabh Bachchan, Amjad Khan, and Sanjeev Kumar in pivotal roles. In 2005, the judges of the 50th Annual Filmfare Awards named ‘Sholay’ the Best Film of 50 Years and it was included in CNN-IBN's list of the "100 greatest Indian films of all time" in 2013.

His production, ‘Ghayal’, starring his son Sunny was a blockbuster. The film won seven Filmfare Awards, including the Best Movie award. The resounding success of the movie led to its remakes in the regional languages Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada.