When Hema Malini Was Against Marrying Dharmendra: 'Wanted To marry Somebody Like Him, Definitely Not...'

In 1968, filmmaker Mahesh Kaul aimed to introduce a new face in Indian cinema comparable to the iconic actress Vijayanthimala. After an extensive search, his team discovered 16-year-old actress Hema Malini, who had already appeared in two films, Pandava Vanavasam and Idhu Sathiyam. Recognising her potential, Mahesh cast Hema opposite the legendary Raj Kapoor in Sapno Ka Saudagar, promoting her as the ‘Dream Girl’ of Indian cinema.

Dharmendra married Prakash Kaur in 1957, and together they had four children: Sunny, Bobby, Vijeeta, and Ajeeta. Later on, he fell in love with Hema Malini and converted to Islam to marry her, maintaining both of his marriages. Despite facing criticism from the media and their own fans, it was Dharmendra’s first wife, Prakash Kaur, who stood up for them. She silenced everyone by saying that she had no issue with Dharmendra and Hema’s marriage.

During a candid chat on Simi Garewal’s renowned celebrity talk show, Rendezvous with Simi Garewal, Hema Malini revealed details about her marriage to Dharmendra. She confessed that, initially, she was strongly against to the idea of marrying him, even though she held a deep affection for him. When the show’s host, Simi Garewal, asked about her reasons, the actress clarified that, despite her attraction to Dharmendra, she had always envisioned marrying someone similar to him, but not him. She had said, “I never bothered in the beginning, not at all. Anyone can say that he’s a very good-looking man, doesn’t mean you have to marry that person. So, I continued working with him, but not at all with any intention that I’m going to marry this person. Somewhere I used to think, if at all I have to marry, I will marry somebody like him. Not him, definitely not. But it happened, so you can’t help it.”

Hema Malini revealed they acted in many movies together, spending a lot of time that strengthened their bond. She fondly remembered the day she asked Dharmendra to marry her out of the blue, and he agreed instantly. “Naturally, no parents would like this kind of a marriage. But it was difficult to decide anything else for me. I was quite close to him, we were together for so long. And to suddenly think of somebody else to marry, I don’t think it is right. So, I called him and I said, ‘You’ll have to marry me now’. He said, ‘Yeah, I’ll marry you’. So that is how it happened,” she had said.