Without much ado, lets dive straight into the memories as told by Thakur himself. Read on…
‘Hema Malini could have been Chandramukhi and Mastani’
Hema Malini acted in three Gulzar films – Kinara, Khushboo and Meera. And she was going to play Chandramukhi in Devdas. The mahurat was held at Mohan Studio. Dharmendra was to play Devdas and Sharmila Tagore was to play Paro. But the film got shelved after the first schedule. The film was advertised in newspapers but it never got made.
Another film of hers that got shelved was Bajirao Mastani, which Manmohan Desai was going to make with Rajesh Khanna and Hema Malini. There was a double-page ad in the trade paper. They hadn’t revealed who was going to play Kashibai. It would have been interesting to see how Manmohan Desai would have made Bajirao Mastani. I think Hema Malini would have been a perfect fit for the role of Mastani, looking at her personality and ability to dance. She could have played Chandramukhi well too.
‘Fighting off social stigma to focus on her career’
When Hema Malini married Dharmendra, the social mentality was not accepting towards the second woman. Plus, Hema Malini was the number one heroine. Dharmendra was a top actor but she dealt with it. She has said in her interviews back then that her mother and Indira Devi were her Gurus. She should be given the credit for the way she handled the situation, emotionally and mentally. She survived without her image and position getting maligned. Later on, Dharmendra and Hema Malini has two lovely daughters.
‘She was always protective about the Deol family’
Sunny Deol entered into politics because of Hema Malini and became an MP in Gurdaspur.
When Hema Malini was asked about the kissing scene between Dharmendra and Shabana Azmi in Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, she said that she hadn’t watched the film yet.
When she was questioned why she didn’t come for the wedding of Sunny Deol’s son, she didn’t say anything and didn’t allow any controversy to arise. Both the families have accepted each other but they’re not part of each other’s personal affairs.
When Gadar: Ek Prem Katha was released, Chandan Talkies in Juhu used to be our barometer. Hema Malini and Esha Deol went to watch the film on the first day, last show. That news was everywhere. Both of them also came for the private screening of Gadar 2.
Hema Malini and Dharmendra got married in 1980 and the families’ equation came to an equal level after a long time. It was a big risk to get married that way.
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Sanjeev Kumar’s affection for Hema Malini was well-known. When she signed Sholay, she agreed on the basis of not having to do any scenes with Sanjeev Kumar. Their film together called Dhoop Chhaav got stuck.
Hema Malini is a family-oriented, traditional, cultural, emotional person. Her career took with Johny Mera Naam. Had she not got that film, she would have got sidelined. It was a huge thing to be a heroine in a Vijay Anand film.
