Hema Malini's controversial marriage with yesteryear actor, Dharmendra had raised many eyebrows yet her love conquered all. Recently, she talked about her marriage with already married Dharmendra.
Once in a while, right in the middle of an ordinary life, love gives us a fairytale. It takes us to a place where there is no right and wrong or society's judgement, but only epic love. And Bollywood's Dream Girl, Hema Malini was in the same situation when she fell in love with yesteryear actor, Dharmendra. Hema ji's exquisite beauty has left the entire nation gaping and Dharmendra ji also got charmed by her. And rest, as they say, is history.
It is said that Dharmendra and Hema's love story has defied all odds and conquered society's raised eyebrows. We all know Dharmendra had tied the knot with Prakash Kaur in the year 1957 and has two children, Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol. However, in the '70s, he fell head over heels in love with Hema. In the beginning, Hema didn't reciprocate to his feelings as she didn't want to be involved with a married man but she couldn't avoid his love for long and gave in.
It's been almost forty years to their happily married life. In an interview with the Deccan Chronicle, Hema talked about her decision of marrying Dharmendra. She shared that she never wanted to hurt anyone because of her love, not even his first wife, and hence, she never intruded in their life. The Dream Girl proudly stated that she never took Dharmendra away from his first wife and children.
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She was quoted as saying, "The minute I saw Dharam ji, I knew he was the man for me. I wanted to spend my life with him. I also wanted to make sure that the marriage hurt nobody. His first wife and children have never felt my intrusion in their lives. I married him, but I never took him away from his first family."
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Hema also talked about people still gushing over her beauty, and said, "What beauty? What secrets? I’ve never thought of myself as beautiful. It’s others who keep reminding me that I am beautiful; then I think about it. Am I really beautiful? I think the secret of staying beautiful is to not think about it."
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Coming back to the epic love story of Hema and Dharmendra and how they had defied all the odds. Hema's parents were against her love for Dharmendra and her father had tried to push him away from his house and yelled at him. Later, when her parents agreed for their marriage, Dharmendra's first wife had refused to give him a divorce. Hence, the actor had to convert to Islam, to be allowed to keep two wives.
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Hema and Dharmendra's intimate wedding was a quiet, traditional Tamil one, the way she had always imagined. In an interview with Rediff.com, the actress had talked about her equation with Dharmendra's first wife, Prakash, and had shared, "I didn't want to disturb anyone. I am happy with whatever Dharamji did for me and my daughters. He played the role of a father like any father would do. I guess I am happy with that. Though I have never spoken about Prakash, I respect her a lot. Even my daughters respect Dharamji's family. The world wants to know about my life in detail, but that is not for others to know. It's no one's business."
Well, Hema and Dharmendra's love story is an epic one!