I was the Salman Khan of my days: Dharmendra

Doga |

29 | July 28, 2009 at 1:11 pm | 168 views | NaachGaana Bol| Share

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With a physique his contemporaries could only dream of, Bollywood’s original action hero Dharmendra says he was almost like Salman Khan in his early days when it came to leading life on his own terms.

“Salman reminds me of myself. I was almost like him in my early days. I like his attitude and the way he leads his life. He has a great body too,” the actor said.

At an age when many of his colleagues have retired, the 73-year-old actor still pursues a tough fitness regime to work in films. “I always kept on doing regular exercise. Even today I do bench press, pranayam and horse riding that keep me fit,” he says.

The matinee idol, who has done almost every kind of roles in his long career, does not intend to retire anytime soon.

“Generally receiving lifetime achievement awards means ‘retirement’. But I won’t sit back. There are three or four movies in the pipeline. ‘Har Pall’ with Preity Zinta and ‘Master’ where people can see me once again with Sunny and Bobby after ‘Apne’. There is a movie with Bobby which is based on the father-son relationship,” says the actor, who completed 50 years in the film industry last year.

In 1997, Dharmendra won a Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to Indian cinema.

When asked why he failed to bag a single best actor award, he says, “For me, the greatest award is the love and support of my fans, which I always get. I don’t want to comment on why I did not get an award. But I think I deserved it for ‘Phool aur Patthar’, ‘Satyakam’, ‘Chupke Chupke’, ‘Pratigya’, ‘Sholay’ and ‘Naya Zamana’ among several others” One of the best compliments Dharmendra received came from thespian Dilip Kumar, who had said “Whenever I get to meet with God Almighty I will set before Him my only complaint-why did You not make me as handsome as Dharmendra?”

The actor says that he had great on-screen chemistry with superstar Amitabh Bachchan. “In films like Chupke Chupke, Ram Balram and Sholay, we had done some memorable scenes together,” he says.

Like his contemporaries Manoj Kumar, Dilip Kumar, Vyjanthimala and Dev Anand, Dharmendra too wants to write an autobiography but not yet. “I will write my autobiography but at the right time. It will tell people about the real Dharmendra. I will express my emotions through the book,” he says.

The former MP from Bikaner gets philosophical while talking about his relationship with his second wife Hema Malini, which he says is beyond love.

“Our relationship is special, I don’t want to comment on it.” He is eager to work with the ‘dreamgirl’ again and he says “We are actually waiting for a good script. If the script is nice and well written and also suits our age, we will definitely do it”

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/i-was-the-salman-khan-of-my-days-dharmendra/495016/

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There Are 29 Responses So Far. »

Doga 28 July 2009
01:14:52 pm

I kind of agree with Dharam Ji.

The following similarities are pretty evident.

1) Quite Popular and Successful.

2) Most movies not remembered.

3) Drinking Exploits.

4) Getting the Best women in Bollywood.

5) Never got an acting award.

6) Known for big heartedness.

7) Playing second fiddle to other superstars historically, Dharam to Big B and salman to SRK/Aamir.
And so on.

neelu 28 July 2009
06:31:51 pm

Dharam Pa ji is doing himself a disservice by this comparison. He was NEVER a non-actor like Salman was/is. Dharam acted is many a film with Hrishikesh Mukherjee, THE director of the classes at the time, and his films like Satyakam, Bandini, Haqeekat, Anupama, Swami, Chupke Chupke etc. Somewhere along the way he turned into a pure massy hero, but his fine performances in so many films cannot be denied. Nor was he ever overshadowed at his peak. He did win FF best actor award for Ghayal but I think he deserved many more.

Doga 28 July 2009
07:04:30 pm

Totally agree there Neelu, by the way, Ghayal was done in 1990 by sunny deol.

Dharam Paaji never won filmfare award as actor, just lifetime achivement.

neelu 28 July 2009
07:09:44 pm

Oh that must be why – I generally never see any Sunny film The progeny never got half the talent of the dad.

Doga 28 July 2009
07:16:56 pm

Neelu start wherever you want.

Betaab
Arjun
Yateem
Dacait
Tridev
Chaalbaaz
Vishwatma
Ghayal
Damini
Lootere
Ghatak
Jeet
Ziddi
Border
Gadar
Indian
Hero

neelu 28 July 2009
07:17:53 pm

I think I will rewatch Satyakam and Chupke Chupke, thanks for your effort though.

Som 28 July 2009
07:37:01 pm

I don’t know what made Dharmendra to come up with this statement,seeing his mirror image in Salman Khan.Though I never thought highly of Dharamendra as an actor, he was/is still a lot better than Salman who can’t act and the body of work (notwithstanding the horrible films he did in the latter part of his career) of Dharmendra which includes the likes of Sholay,Satyakam,Chupke Chupke,Bandini and Anupama easily overshadows what Salman has done so far.

Akshay 28 July 2009
07:48:23 pm

I saw that episode of Dus Ka Dum on Sony with Dharmendra and know why he said that, it was nothing to do with how good an actor he was but primarily because Dharmendra too, like Salman, liked a lot of women and got involved with a lot of women he worked with. Also Dharmendra mentioned something like both these actors think from their heart, which I feel is correct too.

On another note, I have not seen too many Dharmendra films but can say that he was extremely good looking. Chupke Chupke had Dharmendra at his best

shaktikapoorfan 28 July 2009
11:12:48 pm

“Dharam Pa ji is doing himself a disservice by this comparison. He was NEVER a non-actor like Salman was/is. ”

Right on target Neelu. Fully agree on this.

neelu 28 July 2009
11:24:40 pm

I wonder if the interview was in English or Hindi. English was never his strong suit – I remember him saying in the making of Deewangee video – “this is the finest moment of my life” and I thought, OMG, even the makers cannot say that with a straight face! But he is sincere, so maybe he was just being nice to Salman. To see Dharam at his acting best one should see Anupama with Sharmila and also Satyakam,

Akshay 29 July 2009
08:53:12 am

Thanks Neelu, I will watch Anupama and Satyakam. Though let me admit I am not a connoisseur and more than the acting I actually enjoy a good storyline, entertainment.

About Dharmendra, I agree whatever he says looks extremely genuine. By the way, I think the same about Sunny Deol as well

Rocky 29 July 2009
10:27:13 am

Doga- I agreee with 5 of your seven points, and do not agree with 2 and 7.
everyone remembers- Aankhe, Charas, sholay, MPK, HAHK, Pritigya, Satyakam, Chpuke Chupke, Dharam- Veer

Dharmendra has never, and I repeat never played second fiddle to Amitabh Bachchan,( he is not Shashi kapoor) not even in Ram- Balram.
Salman actually was pretty good in KKHH and SRK looked… chalo jaane do….

RAJ 29 July 2009
11:46:46 pm

Well…Dharmendra as seconmd fiddle…?? If you guys remember well, in “Sholay”..it was Dharmendra who was the lead actor….Amitabh was the second fiddle in the movie……But all in all Sholay belonged to one actor and that is “”Amjad Khan….”"

“”"Salman actually was pretty good in KKHH and SRK looked… chalo jaane do….”"

Salman was there in KKHH??? Lol i never noticed that…

Som 29 July 2009
11:51:30 pm

I think Sholay is considered more of a Dharmendra’s film than Amitabh, the former was already a huge star when it was released.

sv 30 July 2009
12:29:27 am

Second fiddle means not playing it in films acted together.
It is being second in ranking as a whole to other stars.
Dharmendra was not No1 at anytime like salman.But he has huge hits in his career.

Sholay belonged to Amjad khan?I never knew that.:)

RAJ 30 July 2009
12:45:04 am

“”Sholay belonged to Amjad khan?I never knew that.:)”"

when somebody recalles Sholay..The first and foremost comes to mind is “”Kitney aadmi they”"right.Now who delivbered the dialogues…??

Rocky 30 July 2009
12:43:45 pm

My Fav. Dharmendra movie was “Shaalimar”, the movie bombed big time, but as a kid I had thoroughly enjoyed it back then.

ritz 30 July 2009
01:13:09 pm

Agree with Rocky. I loved the movie as a child. Esp that scene with black and white chess-type tiles.

Rocky 30 July 2009
02:27:31 pm

Ya that chess Floor was pretty cool so were all the bad guys !!!

Doga 30 July 2009
07:26:29 pm

“Salman was there in KKHH??? Lol i never noticed that…”

Raj as a srk fan you should watch KKHH again and see that in the climax only salman talks and Kajol is crying infront of him and srk is crying in a corner.

Doga 30 July 2009
07:27:33 pm

That second fiddle point was only to attract SRK/Aamir fans to comment here, otherwise salman bhai doesnt get bhav here,lol.

Doga 30 July 2009
07:28:28 pm

Kahan ho Anna Bhai(only person except me here , who likes sallu), Promotion time for Wanted.

Doga 30 July 2009
07:31:16 pm

And Salman also won the coveted Filmfare AKA Indian Oscar for Supporting role in KKHH, should count for something.

RAJ 30 July 2009
11:07:42 pm

“”"Raj as a srk fan you should watch KKHH again and see that in the climax only salman talks and Kajol is crying infront of him and srk is crying in a corner.”"”

Doga i have watched KKHH ,what 10 times??? That comment was directed at certain member who wastes no opportunity to demean SRK…

I have nothing against Salman though…I used to be a big fan of Salman till 1996(Nor that i hate him now)

RAJ 30 July 2009
11:10:15 pm

“”"And Salman also won the coveted Filmfare AKA Indian Oscar for Supporting role in KKHH, should count for something.”"

Yes…Salman did deserve it…He used to be a decent actor till that time..Then came all those body show,arrogance and recklessness….He took the public for granted and hence suffering his current fate…

Doga 31 July 2009
05:02:39 am

OK Raj bhai, By the way have you had the chance of watching Wanted Promo.

RAJ 31 July 2009
05:14:46 am

Doga,

yes i have seen the Wanted trailor…Looks ok to me…Salman has the last chance where he can redeem himself…If he fails here then its all curtains for him as i have no hopes from LondonDreams…