Date of Birth
8 December 1935, Sahniwal, Punjab, IndiaBirth Name
Dharam Singh DeolNickname
DharminderHeight
5' 10" (1.78 m)Mini Biography
Dharmendra Deol played the romantic star in 60's and played the role of action hero from 1975-1997 in A grade films. He appeared in 287 films which includes 160 multi star cast films and did only 86 solo hero films from 1960-2013.Dharmendra had a total of 180 flops from 1960-2013 and had 107 hits from 1960-2013. He is known as 'Garam' Dharam in Bollywood. Off these 160 multi star cast films - 102 were flops and 58 hits. Off the 86 solo hero films - 44 were flops and 42 hits. Then from the 42 films where he had guest role only 7 were hits and rest 35 were flops.Had the looks of a real gentle man, masculine body of a he-man and when it came to his films, he had a very humorous touch in his dialog-delivery and the timing. The heroics in his films - Phool Aur Patthar (1966), Jugnu (1973), Raja Jani (1972) and Loafer (1973) - are all quite remarkable and unforgettable. He got nominated for Filmfare best actor 4 times in his career though he couldn't get one but got "The Life Time Achievement"award in 1997 from Filmfare for his achievements, splendid performance during his times and wonderful career in Bollywood. His best romantic pairing was with the actress Asha Parekh with whom he had 5 hits and Hema Malini, with whom he had 20 hits off 28 as a romantic pair. Dharm-Hema have 2 children together, Esha and Ahana and he has two sons, Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol from previous marriage with Prakash Kaur. Often in 1960's till 1971 he played the romantic lead opposite female leading ladies in woman oriented films where the female protagonist's role overshadowed his roles with Dharam playing only supporting role in these films opposite Meena Kumari, Nutan, Mala Sinha, Sharmila Tagore. Phool Aur Paththar was the turning point in his career and established him as an action hero and as a solo lead hero.Artistically and popularity wise his peak period was the 1971-1979 where he did multi star as well as solo hero films in action and comedy genres and when his performances was appreciated by critics as well as audiences. Critics panned every film he did from 1980-2002 with exception being Dharm Aur Qanoon, Rajput and Ghulami. He was the 2nd highest paid actor along with Vinod Khanna in Hindi films from 1976-1982 and Dharam alone was 3rd highest paid Hindi actor from 1984-1989 of A grade Hindi Films. His roles as the lead hero tended to get repetitive from the 1984 till 2002 as often he was seen as an drunkard action hero in the multi star films.He accepted mostly B grade film from 1990-2003 as the lead hero and returned to A grade Hindi films in 2007 with hat-rick of hits as supporting actor in Life In Metro, Johnny Gaddaar and Apne.
Spouse
| Hema Malini | (21 August 1979 - present) 2 children |
| Prakash Kaur | (1954 - present) 4 children |
Trivia
Hindi megastar
Father of Esha Deol and Ahana Deol from his second marriage to Hema Malini.
Father of Bollywood stars Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol from his first marriage.
He is the only actor to have starred with almost all the Kapoor members. He did not star with Kareena Kapoor and Prithviraj Kapoor.
On August 21, 1979 he converted to Islam, changed his name to Dilawar Khan, got married to actress Hema Malini, as his first wife, Prakash Kaur, refused to divorce him. In accordance with the Hindu Marriage Act it is illegal for a Hindu to get re-married when his first wife is still alive. Two Congress party-members have launched law-suits against him under section 420 of the Indian Penal Code in this connection as he failed to make a declaration of his religion when he joined the Janata Party.
He has four children with his first wife Prakash Kaur. Two sons, the Bollywood stars Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol and two daughters Ajeeta and Vijeta.
Did 11 B grade Action films with Hemant Birje in 1991-2003.
Dharmendra was the 3rd highest paid Hindi actor from 1970-75, the 2nd highest paid Hindi actor from 1976-80 and the 3rd highest paid Hindi actor from 1986-89.
Dharmndra has appeared in 287 films which includes 160 multi star cast films and did only 86 solo hero films and 42 films had him in supporting role. Off these 160 multi star cast films - 102 were flops and 58 hits. Off the 86 solo hero films - 44 were flops and 42 hits. Then from the 42 films where he had guest role only 7 were hits and rest 35 were flops. Dharmendra had a total of 180 flops from 1960-2013 and had 107 hits from 1960-2013 of the 287 he did from 1960-2013.
Dharmendra had 11 releases in 1987 of which 7 were hits and 4 were flops. But Dharmendra couldn't break record of Rajesh Khanna of 1985 - where Khanna had 11 releases and 8 hits.