Dharmendra was one of the few actors during the 60s and 70s who never said no to female-centric movies. Be it Bandini or Surat or Seerat, the Bollywood star readily agreed to do a supporting role.

Dharmendra played a lover boy on the screen multiple times and had a huge female following during his heydays. Even off the screen, he was known as a die-hard romantic.

Born as Dharam Singh Deol, the actor came to Mumbai from a small village in Punjab after winning a magazine’s talent hunt show, which was judged by Bimal Roy.

A born superstar, Dharmendra always dreamed of becoming an actor. His mother who always supported his dreams, used to suggest that he should write a letter requesting to act in films, and his mother’s idea somehow worked! Young Dharam sent an application to Filmfare's new talent hunt with his pictures.

Shaan, released in December 1980, became the most expensive Indian film created up to that point. Before Amitabh Bachchan, the cult flick was offered to Dharmendra. He had even turned down Zanjeer for emotional reasons.

When he proposed Hema Malini, she initially rejected as he was married to Prakash Kaur and had four kids. To marry Hema Malini as his second wife, he secretly converted to Islam and changed his name to Dilawar Khan as the law permits multiple marriages.

Hema too got converted to Islam and the couple got married in an Iyengar style wedding. The whole marriage was kept a secret affair and it was revealed much later.

Reportedly during the shooting of Sholay, Dharamji paid a spot boy to disturb their shot 20 times so that Hema Malini had to hug him 20 times due to retakes.

Dharmendra holds the unique record of delivering seven box office hits in a single year (1987), making him the only Bollywood actor to achieve this remarkable feat.

It is believed when Dharam paaji was a kid, he hated going to school and he used to request his mother not to send him to school. While his father was a school teacher, little Dharam hated going to the school because his father used to scold him more than the other children.

Before falling for the ‘Dream Girl’ of Bollywood, Dharam paaji was linked up with other leading ladies of his time, namely Meena Kumari and Saira Banu. It is believed that Meena Kumari played a big role in shaping his acting career back in the 60s.

Dharmendra had shared on the stage of Indian Idol 11, “In my earlier days, I used to live in a garage because I didn’t have a proper home in Mumbai. To survive in Mumbai, I worked in a drilling firm where I was paid Rs 200."

Dharam Ji got the moniker of ‘He-man’ after his film Haqeeqat (1964). His strong, heroic screen persona in his action and drama films charmed audience.