Dharam’s pind excited over Esha's wedding

SAHNEWAL, LUDHIANA: They have seen Esha Deol only in reel life. But still they feel attachment with her as she is the daughter of "pind ka munda" (son of soil) Dharmendra. And when news about her engagement with Mumbai-based Bharat Takhtani on Sunday reached the village, it became a hot topic for the villagers.
Almost everybody is aware about the engagement of Isha in Sahnewal, the village from where Dharmendra took a train to Mumbai more than 50 years ago.Dharmendra’s father, Kewal Krishan, was headmaster in the government primary school here in the 60s and the family used to live in a rented house. Villagers are now discussing as to who all from the village will get the invitation to attend Esha’s marriage.
"I am sure 3-4 people from the village will get the invitation," said Tabinder Singh, a former sarpanch of the village. Tabinder Singh, who lives near Dharmendra’s rented house in the village, had acted as a sarpanch in a movie "Yaari Jatt Di" with Dharmendra’s cousin, Veerendra.
"We Jats are very sensitive about the issue of marriage and prefer to marry our daughters in time. In this case, even her parents are happy as we have seen the statement of Hema Malini. We are happy that Esha is going to be married without any controversy," said a former headman of the village. Villagers are even guessing the date of the marriage, though Singh said that it might take some time. He even recalled the marriage of Prakash Kaur and Dharmendra and birth of Sunny Deol in a small rented but congested house of Deols behind the government school.
Esha and Bharat have reportedly been dating for the last 13 months. "We live in an orthodox society in Punjab but in metros like Mumbai, people are open-minded about such affairs," said a resident, Shiv Karan Singh, recalling how local people could hardly digest the second marriage of Dharmendra with Hema Malini. Shiv Karan Singh owns a cinema hall, known as "Dharmendra’s cinema" in the village despite the fact the he-man does’t have any share in it. The cinema hall has been closed recently.
Excited over the news of Esha's marriage, an engineering student, Sahil Pathak, 22, said, "After the marriage, she should visit the village. The Deols must invite people from their native village to attend the marriage." Even 72-year old farmer, Mukhtyan Singh, who was a student of Dharmendra’s father in fifth class, is taking interest in the news. "Bahut acchhi bat hai, hum khus hain" (It’s a good news for us, we are happy)," he said. The love of villagers towards the "action king" can be gauged from the fact that they celebrate the birthday of Dharmendra with fanfare every year.