The actor, with his eyes welled up, was seen choking while talking about Dharmendra as tears rolled down his cheeks. Salman Khan broke down like never before in public, especially on national television. While informing the contestants about the unfortunate news, Salman, while crying, said, “Dharmendra passed away on the 24th of November, on my father Salim Khan’s 90th birthday.”
“He was the He-Man of Bollywood, with an innocent face and the body of a He-Man, with a 60+ years of legacy,” he added. Salman further broke down more when he mentioned that Dharmendra's birthday falls on the 8th of December, coincidentally on the same day as Salman Khan's mother's. The actor also spoke about Dharmendra's funeral being handled with extreme dignity. “I have seen two funerals being conducted with full dignity to date; one was of filmmaker Sooraj Barjatya’s mother, and the second was Dharamji’s. Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol, and the entire family of Dharmendra ji conducted the prayer meetings also with so much dignity, love, and grace. It was such a beautiful moment to see so many people celebrate his life with so much love.”
While Salman remembered Dharmendra, an AV featuring Salman Khan and Dharmendra's moments on the Bigg Boss sets every season was telecasted. As Salman saw the entire video, he was seen getting extremely emotional. He mentioned that Dharmendra was an actor who would always be there on set with him at least once each season.
“But this time he won’t be there,” said Salman as he broke down. “If it is so difficult for me, imagine how difficult it must be for Sunny, Bobby, and Esha—all of them have made Dharamji proud. Prakash aunty, Hema ji as well,” he added. “He said that there was no actor like Dharmendra and that there could never be another actor like him and stated that only Dharmendra deserved all the grace and respect and love amongst the entire Bollywood.
Earlier too, Salman, while hosting BB 19, expressed his intense grief over the passing away of late superstar Dharmendra. The actor, in the last week of November, had said that the following week had been extremely heavy not just for the nation but also for the fans and especially the Bollywood industry. He further, without mentioning Dharmendra's name, had said that ‘this week the industry faced a huge loss.’ The actor expressing his grief further said, “I wish I was not hosting Bigg Boss this week, but in the end, life goes on.”
For the uninitiated, Dharmendra passed away on November 24 at the age of 89. Salman Khan was one of the first Bollywood celebrities to arrive both at the crematorium on November 24 and also at the prayer meet organized by the Deol family on November 27. Salman shared an extremely close equation with Dharmendra. Both the actors had starred together in the movie Pyaar Kiya Toh Darna Kya, which also starred Kajol and Arbaaz Khan.
Dharmendra’s association with the Khan family spans over 50 years, starting from the era when Salman Khan’s father, Salim Khan, co-wrote the iconic classic Sholay with Javed Akhtar. Dharmendra had essayed the role of Veeru in Sholay, a role that to date is touted as one of the finest characters in Bollywood.
On November 25, a day after Dharmendra's demise, many prominent figures from the film world arrived at the Deol residence to offer condolences to the grieving family. Dharmendra, who was 89 at the time of passing, would have celebrated his 90th on December 8 this year.
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