Another gem lost, Dharmendra bids adieu to 59-yr bond with Kol

KOLKATA: Dharmendra's 59-year bond with Kolkata drew to a close with his passing, days before the release of his final film, co-written by a Bengali. His journey began in 1966 with his Bengali debut in Jagannath Chatterjee's ‘Paari', adapted from author Jarasandha's work. Now, Arijit Biswas's writing brings to life the character played by Dharmendra in his last film appearance.

In 2012, Biswas, along with Sriram Raghavan and Pooja Ladha Surti, tried to get Dharmendra to play a RAW chief in ‘Agent Vinod'. But that did not work out. Later, he took on a role, tailor-made for him in ‘Ikkis', that of a pivotal character crafted by Biswas, Raghavan and Surti. Dharmendra portrayed brigadier M L Khetrapal — father of second lieutenant Arun Khetrapal — India's youngest Param Vir Chakra awardee — in a war drama that eschewed typical jingoistic tropes. "He plays a father who bleeds with all war casualties. In the final scene, he asks his Pakistani counterpart to visit him in India. Dharamji's character goes in search of his roots in a country his son fought against and died a hero. This pathos has brilliantly been portrayed by Dharamji," Biswas said.




Dharmendra's involvement in the project was evident as he contributed to the script by suggesting a key scene with actor Deepak Dobriyal. "I've been his fan for 40 years. I've watched ‘Sholay' at least ten times in theatres. Meeting him during costume trials, we were struck by his humility and generosity, as he shared funny anecdotes from his illustrious career over homemade lunch," Biswas said.

Dharmendra's bonding with Bengal also involves his work in ‘Paari' that released on Aug 5, 1966. Two months earlier, Satyajit Ray's ‘Nayak' had released and two months later, Tapan Sinha's ‘Golpo Holeo Sotti'. Despite the competition, ‘Paari', with Dharmendra and Pranati, gained attention for its story and was remade in Hindi as ‘Anokha Milan' in 1972. Some scenes were filmed at Cellular Jail in the Andamans and Dharmendra's performance was well-received, despite the risk of being overshadowed by Dilip Kumar, who played a jailor.

Though Dharmendra never returned to act in any Bengali movie after ‘Paari', his Bengal connection remained strong. In 1964, he worked with Supriya Devi for ‘Aap Ki Parchhaiyan'. Then there were multiple Hindi films with Biswajit, Sharmila Tagore and Mousumi Chatterjee. If Asit Sen cast him in ‘Mamta', Hrishikesh Mukherjee worked with him in ‘Anupama', ‘Majhli Didi', ‘Satyakam', ‘Guddi', ‘Chupke Chupke' and ‘Chaitali'. Bimal Roy's ‘Bandini' - again based on Jarasandha's story with screenplay by Nabyendu Ghosh - had him in the cast. Pramod Chakravorty directed Dharmendra in ‘Naya Zamana', ‘Jugnu', ‘Dream Girl', ‘Azaad' and the billingual 'Teen Murti'. In the 1980s, Gulzar abandoned the making of an adaptation of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's ‘Devdas' starring Dharmendra and Hema Malini. Anurag Basu cast him in ‘Life... in a Metro' in 2017. Recently, his co-stars from Bengal included Tota Roy Chowdhury and Churni Ganguly in ‘Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani'. Another Bengali director, Dulal Guha, also worked with him.

Ekavalli Khanna, who acted with Dharmendra in ‘Ikkis', said, "I watched ‘Uttar Falguni' and my father suggested I watch the Hindi version, which had Dharamji and Suchitra Sen. During ‘Ikkis', I mentioned this to him and told him how handsome he looked." She recalled how meticulous he was about reviewing his lines before each take, how passionate he was about his craft and how particular he was about his appearance. "He was surprised to learn I was a Punjabi girl from Kolkata.He effortlessly shared his shayri during breaks and chose to speak to me in Punjabi," she said.

Recalling Dharmendra's fond memories of working with Bengalis, Roy Chowdhury remarked, “Dharmendra had an incredible screen presence. He had told me that Bengali directors including Bimal Roy and Hrishikesh Mukherjee had brought out the actor in him. His handsome looks often overshadowed his other talents. Unfortunately, not many films showcased his comedic skills. It would have been wonderful if he had acted in more Bengali films.”

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