Odisha news today, Latest Oriya News Bhubaneswar Online Odia news Portal
Mumbai:24/11/25:Bollywood’s beloved “He-Man,” Dharmendra, passed away at his home in Mumbai on November 24, 2025, at the age of 89. Earlier in the month, he had been admitted to Breach Candy Hospital due to respiratory issues. After discharge, he was recovering at home, and his family had previously denied rumors about his health worsening. On Monday, news broke that an ambulance was spotted leaving Dharmendra’s residence in Juhu, Mumbai. Heavy security was put in place outside his home and at the Pawan Hans crematorium, as celebrities and family members started arriving for the last rites. The atmosphere was emotional, with fans and media gathering outside.
Best known as Veeru, the lovable petty criminal in the 1975 blockbuster Sholay, he appeared in over 300 films, many hits, captivating audiences for decades. Songs featuring him topped the charts, and his romance and marriage to Hema Malini made headlines. Dubbed the “original He-Man of Bollywood” and “Garam (hot) Dharam”, the actor often made it to global lists of “most handsome men” in his heyday, and female fans were known to sleep with his photographs under their pillows
Bollywood stars weren’t immune to his charms either – over the years, actress Madhuri Dixit described him as “one of the most handsome people I have seen on screen”, superstar Salman Khan said Dharmendra was the “most beautiful looking man”, and actress Jaya Bachchan called him “a Greek God”.Dharmendra always said he was “embarrassed” by talk of his good looks and attributed it to “nature, my parents, and my genes”.
Born on 8 December 1935 in Nasrali village in Punjab’s Ludhiana district in a middle-class Jatt-Sikh family, he was named Dharam Singh Deol by his schoolteacher father. In a 2018 interview with BBC Hindi, he said his father wanted him to study, but he fell in love with films early on and wanted to be a hero.”I watched my first film when I was in the ninth standard, and I was hooked. I was wondering, where is this heaven where all these beautiful people live? I thought I must find my way there. I felt like they were mine and I belonged to them.
For three decades, after debuting with Dil Bhi Tera, Hum Bhi Tere (The heart is yours and so am I) in 1960, he ruled Bollywood, delivering several hits a year. Dharmaendra first rose to fame with Bimal Roy’s 1963 film Bandini, earning praise for his elegant portrayal of a prison doctor who falls for a convict. He soon became a romantic hero, pairing successfully with top actresses like Nutan, Meena Kumari, Mala Sinha, and Saira Banu.
In 1966, he did his first action role in Phool Aur Patthar (Flower and rock), but it was the 1971 hit Mera Gaon Mera Desh (My village, my country) which cemented his reputation as an action hero. Tall and well-built, Dharmendra often did his own action scenes, involving daring stunts, even taking risks.
Besides romance and action, the actor also delivered thrillers and comedies that were hits. Critics praised him “for his impeccable comic timing” in the hilarious 1975 film Chupke Chupke.
Over the years, Dharmendra said he was cast opposite 70 heroines, but his most successful screen pairing was with Hema Malini, who later became his second wife.
The couple first met at a film premiere in 1965, and Hema Malini made an immediate impression on Dharmendra. In her 2017 biography, she wrote that she heard Dharmendra telling fellow actor Shashi Kapoor in Punjabi, “Kudi badi changi hai (The girl is quite pretty)”.
Their romance bloomed in the 1970s through superhit films like Seeta Aur Geeta, Raja Jani, and Sholay, making headlines as Dharmendra was already married with grown-up children with his first wife, Prakash Kaur.
The media wrote about the resistance from Hema Malini’s family to their wedding, but the couple finally tied the knot in 1980. Some reports said they had converted to Islam, which allows polygamy, to marry – a claim Dharmendra later denied.
The actor-producer also dabbled in politics. He was the BJP MP from Bikaner in Rajasthan for one term from 2005 to 2009. But he was criticised for not taking politics seriously as he rarely attended parliament, preferring to spend time shooting for films or working on his farm.
Speaking to a television programme, Aap Ki Adalat, years later, he agreed that he was a misfit in politics. “Politics is not for emotional people, it’s for the thick-skinned,” he said. “These five years were very tough for me; they were difficult.”
He worked almost to the end of his life, acting alongside his sons Sunny and Bobby Deol, judging reality shows, and connecting with fans via social media.
In his lifetime, the actor gave many fine performances, but if there’s one role that he’ll always be remembered for, it’ll be that of Veeru in Sholay – the 1975 blockbuster that has become a cultural phenomenon.
The multi-starrer that also had Amitabh Bachchan, Hema Malini, and Jaya Bachchan in the lead roles saw Dharmendra and Bachchan play loveable rogues-turned-saviours who are recruited to fight a dreaded bandit.
The film became a cult classic, and many fans credited Dharmendra for its success, describing him as the “soul of Sholay”. The actor also described it as his finest role. “I don’t think I have ever done a better role than Veeru’s,” he said.
