Amongst Bollywood‘s legendary love stories, Dharmendra and Hema Malini‘s 1980 marriage remains exceptional for the intrigue it caused at the time.
Already married to Prakash Kaur, with whom he had four children, Dharmendra’s second union with Hema generated rumors that the two movie stars had converted to Islam to make the marriage possible in both religious traditions.
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As Ram Kamal Mukherjee writes in Hema Malini’s biography, Hema Malini: Beyond the Dream Girl, they were rumored to have assumed the names Dilawar and Ayesha Bi and even gone in for a nikaah ceremony before their Iyengar wedding.
This rumor, decades later, surfaced in 2004 when Dharmendra was contesting for a Lok Sabha seat.
Scrutiny also saw his campaign because he only put his properties and those with first wife Prakash Kaur but omitted Hema’s name in it.
Rajya Sabha nomination of Hema was also questioned citing errors in the name and religion mentioned on documents.
Responding to the media at the time, Hema dismissed the claims, calling them untrue and emphasizing that their relationship details were private. “This is extremely personal between us,” she noted, adding that it wasn’t an issue for public concern.
The biography does reflect Dharmendra’s strong stand on the issue. He had outrightly ruled out the possibility of ever converting, stating, “I am not the kind of man who will change.” As far as both stars are concerned, these rumors were a mere challenge to be lived with in the eyes of the masses, but they did stay true to the personalism of their relationship.
This legendary pairing of ‘Dream Girl’ and Bollywood’s ‘He-Man’ still inspires audiences and is reminiscent of the iconic love story.
