Happy birthday to Dharmender.

Happy birthday to Dharmender.

The viewers of bollywood films wish happy birthday to Dharmender on 8th December, 2009. He is one of the living legends of bollywood.

He had acted in more than 300 films and bollywood industry was heavily dependent on the star in the 60s and 70s. He started his journey with romantic films. His successful romantic films included Phool Aur Pathar with Meena Kumari, Mamta with Suchitra Sen, Mere Humdum Mere Dost with Sharmila Tagore, Aye Din Bahar Ke with Asha Parekh, Pyar Hi Pyar with Vaijayantimala, to name a few. Rafi’s songs picturized on Dharmender like “gar tum bhula na doge,” “ na ja kahin ab na ja”, “o majhi chal”, “dil kahen ruk ja”, “aaj mausam bara beimaan hai”, etc., had remained evergreen gems.

He played a different innings in the 70s. His image of action hero created revolution in bollywood films. He had a very muscular physic and created a trend of actors who involved themselves in exercises. His discipline had been followed by the actors of the next generation like Sunny Deol, Sanjay Dutt, Salman Khan, Hrithik Roshan and others. His successful films in the 70s included Jheel Ke Us Paar, Jugnu, Sholay, Dream Girl, etc.

His combination with Hema Malini is considered as one of the most colourful onscreen combination after Raj Kapoor Nargis and Dilip Kumar Vaijayantimala. Dharmender had acted in more than 20 films with Hema Malini, most of which were super hit. The most renowned films included Raja Jani, Naya Zamana, Sholay, Charas, Seeta Aur Geeta, Burning Train, Dream Girl, etc.

Dharmender acted in off-beat films as well. The best example was Gulzar’s Kinara. He was the husband of Hema Malini in the film who was a noted classical dancer. He was killed due to an accident with the car of Jeetender in the film. Bhupinder Singh’s song picturised on Dharmender titled “ek hi khwab kai baar dekha hai maine” remains as one of the greatest off-beat creations of RD Burman. His performance in the film Maa, based on the life of elephant requires special mention. He took a young elephant away from his mother to use him in Circus. The mother elephant revolted and killed Dharmender’s mother Nirupa Roy in the film. Dharmender’s patent dialogue “maa kasam”, “kamine”, etc., were memorized by youths of the 70s.
Both his sons Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol are successful actors of bollywood films. Dharmender still has acting left in him and the viewers expect him to carry on the marathon innings that he had started 50 years back.

Happy birthday to Mala Sinha.

Happy birthday to Mala Sinha.

The viewers of bollywood films wish happy birthday to Mala Singh on 11th November, 2009. She had been a legendary actress of bollywood films and contributed in both bollywood films and Bengali films for more than 40 years.

In the 50s, Mala Sinha had acted in classic films like Parvarish, Phir Subah Hogi opposite Raj Kapoor. These films became immortal for their unforgettable songs like “anshu bhari hai”, “woh subah kabhi to ayegi”, etc. Mala Sinha was sublime opposite Dev Anand in the film Love Marriage. The music of the film composed by Shankar Jaikishan was equally grand. The hit songs included “dheere dheere chal”, “kahan ja rahete”, etc.

Mala Sinha contributed well in Guru Dutt’s classic film Pyaasa. The romantic andaz displayed by Mala Sinha was very significant in the film in the songs “hum aapke aankho me”, sung by Rafi and Geeta Dutt. Mala Sinha continued her dream run in the 60s by performing in historical films like Jahanara opposite Bharat Bhushan. The film was a musical block buster. The songs “baad muddar key eh ghari aye”, “kisi ki yaad me”, etc., composed by Madan Mohan created history. The biggest achievement of Mala Sinha lies in sustaining in bollywood industry amidst high competition from other leading actresses like Nargis, Meena Kumari, Madhubala, Vaijayantimala, etc.

Mala Sinha also acted with the next generation of actors like Rajender Kumar and Dharmender. Her successful films opposite Rajender Kumar included Dhool Ka Phool, Lalkar and Geet. Her successful films opposite Dharmender included Ankhen, Neela Akash, etc. which did great business. She did very well in films opposite Biswajeet like Night in London and Shammi Kapoor in Dil Tera Diwana.

Mala Sinha played a very long innings in Bengali films as well. Her successful films opposite Uttam Kumar included Khelaghar, Shaharer Itikatha, Bandhu, Putrabadhu, Saathihara, to name a few. Her other notable films include Dhuli, Abhaya Srikanto, etc.

She even featured in modern films in the 90s like Khel where she had played character roles opposite Madhuri Dixit. The viewers expect her to continue in character roles in films in future.

Happy birthday to Hema Malini.

Happy birthday to Hema Malini.

The viewers of bollywood films wish happy birthday to dream girl Hema Malini on 16th October, 2009. She was the uncrowned queen of bollywood films of the 70s.

Her strong dancing skills gave her a separate place in bollywood films. Her performance in the film Sapno Ka Saudagar opposite Raj Kapoor was extremely successful in the late 60s. From there she never looked back. Her film Abhinetri opposite Shashi Kapoor became super hit. Her successful films opposite other stars included Gora Aur Kala opposite Rajender Kumar, Burning Train opposite Dharmender, Johnny Mera Naam opposite Dev Anand, to name a few.

Within short time she formed a brilliant combination with Dharmender and their films started rocking bollywood in the 70s. The pair started off with films like Naya Zamana, Raja Jani and went on to give all time hits like Seeta Aur Geeta, Jugnu, Charas, Sholay, etc. If Sholay is remembered for superlative camerawork of Ramesh Sippy, villainish andaz of Amzad Khan, angry image of Big B, then it is also remembered for tremendous dance performance of Hema Malini. She danced on top of glasses in the song “jab tak hai jaan”.

Hema Malini did extremely well in off-beat films as well. One of her landmark films included Kinara opposite Jeetender and Dharmender. Gulzar’s films was based on dancing and Hema Malini’s classical dance balanced the story line where Jeetender’s car struck Dharmender and killed him on the spot. Dharmender was the husband of Hema Malini in the film and she lived with his memory in the film.

Hema Malini’s films opposite Big B also did great business. Some of their hit films included Desh Premi, Satte Pe Satta, etc. In the last few years Hema Malini had been seen contributing in character roles in bollywood films like Baghban.

The viewers still believe that a lot of dancing skills are still left in Hema Malini and she should still act in bollywood films in future.

Happy birthday to Vinod Khanna.

Happy birthday to Vinod Khanna.

The viewers of bollywood films wish happy birthday to Vinod Khanna on 6th October 2009. He had remained a versatile actor and contributed in bollywood films from the 70s.

He started his career as an anti-hero. He played the role of a villain in the film Aan Milo Sajna, where Rajesh Khanna was the lead actor. With the advent of action films in the mid-70s, Vinod Khanna became a dominating figure in bollywood films. Big B’s appearance in the film Zanjeer created a fair competition between Vinod Khanna and Big B.

Both of them featured together in the film Zameer. Both of them showed their action skills against the other actor. In Amar Akbar Anthony, Vinod Khanna played the role of a police officer while Big B played the role of a smuggler. In that film the action skills of Vinod Khanna and Amitabh Bacchan was balanced by the romantic style of performance of Rishi Kapoor. All three of them played the role of the three brothers who were separated earlier but met together at the end of the film. Pran played the role of the father of the three actors.

In Muqaddar Ka Sikander, Vinod Khanna played the role of the friend of Amitabh. Big B sacrificed his life at the end of the film after preventing Amzad Khan from creating any harm to Rakhee. The songs of the film became superhit. Vinod Khanna acted along with Big B in other films like Hera Pheri, Khoon Paseena, Pavarish, etc.

The other notable films of Vinod Khanna included Qurbani with Feroz Khan. Vinod Khanna played the role of his friend who sacrificed his life to save Feroz Khan. Vinod Khanna played a very significant role in the film Burning Train, where Dharmender played the role of his friend. He was the engineer who built the super fast train, but Danny conspired to put a bomb in the train which exploded and burned the train. At the end Dharmender, Jeetender and Vinod Khanna rescued the passengers.

After launching his son Akshay Khanna in the film Burning Train, Vinod Khanna switched to character roles and got busy with politics. He also joined the Rajnish Ashram in the early 80s. The viewers expect him to continue the brilliant work in the years to come.

Happy birthday to Dharmender

Happy birthday to Dharmender.

The viewers of bollywood films wish happy birthday to Dharmender on 8th December, 2008. He had indispensable hero of bollywood films during the 60s, 70s and 80s and contributed in more than 300 films. When he appeared in films there was strong domination of Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Rajender Kumar and other bollywood stars and it took time for Dharmender to create his identity.

He even acted as anti-hero in films like Ayee Milan Ki Bela, where Rajender Kumar was the main hero, side-role in the film Ganga Ki Lehere where Kishore Kumar was the main Hero. But he became prominent with his performance in the film Phool Aur Patthar opposite Meena Kumari in the mid-60s.

His film Mere Humdum Mere Dost, opposite Sharmila Tagore became super hit with Rafi’s songs like “na ja kabhi ab na ja”, “hui shaam unka khayal aa gaya”, etc. His film Aankhe opposite Mala Sinha also became super hit. From that time Dharmender creating his identity as an action hero.

Although his romantic films like Baharen Phir Bhi Ayegi opposite Tanuja, Aya Sawan Jhumke opposite Asha Parekh, Isq Par Zor Nahi opposite Sadhna created tremendous box-office impact, his action films created greater business. The hit songs of Baharen Phir Bhi Ayegi include “aap ke haseen rukh” composed by OP Nayyar and sung by Rafi, Aya Sawan Jhumke include “aya sawan jhumke”, “o majhi chaal”, etc, “yeh dil diwana hai” sung by Rafi and composed by SD Burman in the film Ishq Par Zor Nahin.

In the 70s, Dharmender stormed bollywood films with the success in Jheel Ke Us Par, Jugnu, Raja Jani, Sholay, Charas, etc. He married Hema Malini and the pair had contributed in many hit films in that era which included every type of subject matter. Their film Seeta Aur Geeta was super hit, with double role of Hema Malini and quality performance of both Dharmender and Sanjeev Kumar.

From Dharmender emerged as one of the greatest Indian action heroes at par with Big B and Vinod Khanna. If the career Dharmender is analyzed it will be found that he had acted under different banners, different producers, which include Bimal Roy’s films like Bandinj, Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s films like Satyakam, Guddi, Chupke Chupke, to Ramesh Sippy’s films like Seeta Aur Geeta, Sholay, etc., BR Chopra’s films like Burning Train, Gulzar’s films like Kinara, etc.

He had acted with actresses of different generations which include Wahida Rehman, Saira Banu on one hand, and Zeenat Aman, Parveen Babi on the other hand. He had given lips in the songs of Rafi, Mukesh, Kishore, Manna Dey, Mahendra Kapoor and many other singers of 60s and 70s.

Even after limiting his performance in major roles in the 80s, when his two sons Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol grew up, Dharmender produced landmark films for them. Sunny Deol’s successful films Betaab and Ghayal were produced by Dharmender. Bobby Deol’s successful film Barsaat was produced by Dharmender.

Even last year he acted in the film Mere Apne with Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol in the role of a boxer, and showed that he can still contribute in character roles when he gets scope and opportunity. The viewers expect Dharmender to continue his good work that he had done for the last 50 years.