It was his 90th birthday on the 8th December 2025, and Monojit Lahiri takes a couple of minutes to reveal a little known fact about the late har-dil-azeez! A tribute to legacy, cinema, nostalgia, influence, connections, and unforgettable charisma.

A nostalgic tribute to Dharmendra on his 90th birth anniversary, exploring not just his rise as Bollywood’s first He-Man, but his emotional, artistic and deeply personal connect with legendary Bengali filmmakers who shaped his finest performances.

It was the age of innocence, but ever since the shirt was off & that sinfully virile, macho masculine, red-blooded topless himbo zoomed into hard focus across a million giant Indian screens, Bollywood’s idea of movies and manhood irrevocably changed forever! So did the image of the hitherto shy, quiet, sweet, simple puttar from Phagwara who overnight morphed—serendipitously—into Bollywood’s first legitimate He-Man! All hell broke loose with male audiences experiencing equal doses of envy and admiration, while females blissfully collapsed into fantasy-land and swoon-zone.

The Rise of the Action Hero

This simple act of disrobing catapulted Phool Aur Patthar (1966) into another stratosphere and introduced two new genres! Action Film and Action Hero that was to go the distance. Suddenly little known Dharmendra and dishoom-dishoom were perfectly matched—fists of fury, hitherto tame – took on thrilling and exhilarating dimensions unseen or undreamt of before!

On his 90th birth anniversary, while reams will be written about him, it’s an appropriate time to throw light on a little known track of his life - his heartfelt love, respect and gratitude for his Bengali directors who, he believed, extracted nuanced performances of the sensitive, serious and comic kind he never knew existed in his histrionic lexicon.

As a journo who’s been at it for over 50 years and connected seamlessly with most mainstream stars of the 1970s and 80s, for some strange reason, Dharam never happened. It was much later, by accident, I met him. Although he was well past his prime - his kids dazzling the marquee - his legendary charm, sweetness, rootedness, cute badmashi and complete lack of pretense came through loud n’ clear. I had met most of the male dazzlers but he was the only star I met who truly defined WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU GET.

Warmth personified, he was a planet away from the hysterically anxious to impress, larger than life dudes that comprised the scenes and believing [wrongly] that playing hard-to-get increased your demand factor. This man was transparent with the most disarmingly infectious smile forever reaching his eyes. And the STAR factor, intact.

A Chance Meeting and a Cultural Bond

I had actually gone with a friend who knew him rather well and insisted I come along. I resisted, saying I felt uncomfortable gate-crashing, but he wouldn’t take no for an answer, “Chal yaar, dus minute ka kaam hai, you’ll love him. Promise. Kamaal ka insaan hai….”

He was a charmer alright, warm, friendly from the word go. Just as their conversation began, an urgent phone call forced my friend to excuse himself for a bit leaving me with Dharamjee. He guessed my discomfort and began making polite small talk. Did I reside in Mumbai? What was my line of work? When he heard Kolkata and that I was a Bengali whose childhood was spent in Pali Hill and that my family was very well acquainted with the likes of Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Bimal Roy, Gulzar, Abhi Bhattacharya, Hemant Kumar, Hemen Gupta… he appeared super excited and instantly embraced me!

“You have no idea beta what these amazing people meant to me,” and proceeded to get into flashback mode and tell me his individual connect with each of them. “The first has to be Bimal-da. I am here only because of him. He is responsible for getting this shy, secret dreamer to tinsel town from a distant village in Punjab and motivate, encourage and inspire me to achieve mission impossible! Soft-spoken, loving, caring he mentored me with a kind of sensitivity only parents do. When I got Bandini, I was completely raw, clueless and nervous but he made both our personal relationship and acting so simple and effortless. If my work in that masterpiece is appreciated, beside legends like Nutan, Ashok Kumar, total credit goes to him. He was and will always remain a father figure whom I will continue to respect and revere forever. His entire unit – most of whom were Bengalis – were on the same page, forever hand-holding this newcomer. Incidentally every one of them were extremely dedicated, passionate and knowledgeable, but they never showed off. It appeared in their work. Sometimes Boudi (Bhabhi) sent across fish curry and rice”, Dharmajee’s voice fleetingly trembled, “Bimal-da jaise log kahaan miltey hain aaj kal?!”

The Bengali Influence and Everlasting Gratitude

Hrishikesh Mukherjee was next on his list. “A chela of Bimal-da who carved his own memorable path, Dada too was special. A no-nonsense, strict disciplinarian, Dada was a filmmaker we adored and feared! He didn’t give a damn for reputation. He had his own style of working and like his mentor believed in keeping things simple. A fantastic technician and master editor, Dada had every shot and frame in his head and knew exactly what he wanted and how to extract performances. Frankly, my serious films - Anupama and Satyakam - could never have been imagined by anyone other than him. He-Man, Garam Dharam in a pyjama-kurta, all soft and poetic? Dada possessed a third eye and sixth sense. Both in Bimal-da and Hrishida’s sets, you felt you were in a loving, cosy secure family. The camaraderie was so enriching. Also, if you kept your eyes and ears open there was so much to learn. Dada was a master at audience-connect and viewers loved his intelligent, charming entertaining films. No matter what big commercial films I was doing, when Dada called, I arrived. No need to listen to storyline or role, it was blind faith and total surrender….

And, our track record is there for all to see. Dharamjee also spoke very warmly about Abhi Bhattacharya, [a renowned character actor of that era who once was a successfully leading man] who was there in his first film – Dil bhi tera, Hum bhi Tere. “He was so helpful, considerate and encouraging. How can I forget him. Also director Asit Sen who’s Mamta was a joyous experience”. Alongside he spoke with great love and affection about all his Bengali heroines, starting from Mala, Supriya and Suchitra to Sharmila, Rakhee, Moushumi, Jaya…

At the end of the day, while Mr Jugnu/Veeru/DharamVeer flashed his biceps and thrilled the howling mobs, he believed alongside he lived a very fortunate and meaningful double life, thanks to his Bengali connect. What he meant was that these directors considered filmmaking a mission, not a trade. They focussed on the linear truth not pandering to the lowest common denominator for ROI. They paid homage to the magicians, not merchants. They prayed at the altar of the muse, not mammon….

RIP, Bday boy. Pal pal dil ke paas, tum rehte ho…forever.