Late legend Dharmendra struggled with ‘Ikkis’ dubbing, rewrote lines in Urdu; reveals Sriram Raghavan

Dharmendra's legendary career concludes with Sriram Raghavan's war epic ‘Ikkis’. The veteran actor left us on November 24, only weeks before the movie's release. Recently, in an interview, Sriram opened up about Dharmendra's depressed energy during October dubbing sessions and cherished memories of the icon improvising dialogues in Urdu.

Dharmendra's dubbing sessions

Talking to Galatta Plus, he shared, “We had some dubbing with him in October. Before that also, he used to keep asking about how the movie was shaping up and when I would show it to him. I told him he could watch it before the dubbing, but he had some work, so he asked to watch it on another day. But, he saw around 50-70% of the film, he sort of liked it.”

Dharmendra's regretful goodbye

Sriram further added, “At that time, I could see that he was having a tough time dubbing. I told him to get better soon. We had finished our work with him, I thought I would show him the entire film in a month. That is a big regret. He was really looking forward to watching the film. It’s like when 1942: A Love Story happened, RD Burman wasn’t there to get the accolades.”

Dharmendra's on-set chemistry

He described the distinctive vibe while capturing Jaideep Ahlawat and Dharmendra's shared moments on camera. He shared, “Jaideep has the maximum scenes with Dharam ji. They have to work together, not how they are good actors separately, (but I) wanted the chemistry. We began with their scenes first while shooting the film. We all were in awe of Dharam ji, so when Jaideep came, the ice was instantly broken,” he said and added, “Jaideep says the dialogues under his breath and Dharam ji probably found it a bit hard to understand. He would ask, ‘What is he saying?’. I would tell him not to worry, and ask Jaideep to speak a bit loudly. So, all that used to happen during their scenes.”

Dharmendra's preparation mastery

Sriram revealed Dharmendra showed up exceptionally ready for every scene and said, “The good thing about Dharam ji was that he used to be prepared enough to know the other actor’s lines. He used to rewrite his own lines in Urdu, and the other actor’s cues as well. He used to do his own preparation. It was wonderful actually.” In fact, the late superstar gave a couple of options of takes to choose from. “He even used to try variations and write it down. So much of the film is the way he speaks also. I used to give him the basic content, lines, and then ask him how his character would say it. He used to give options to choose from”.

Dharmendra's key influence

The actor revealed that Dharmendra played a key role in his decision to greenlight ‘Ikkis’. “When I got this story, it’s almost like, maybe, a part of my decision to do this film might have been Dharam ji. It could have been a subconscious influence of me saying, ‘Wow, what a wonderful role for him’ and saying yes in five minutes. When I narrated the story to him, even before I had any other cast done, he loved the story.”

Dharmendra's lasting passion

“Over the last 4-5 years, he used to ask when we would be starting Ikkis. Merry Christmas release was still pending but we began shooting. You go meet him, he talks about it, gives ideas and suggestions regarding the scenes. It’s all for you to take or leave, it has been an extremely wonderful experience,” he concluded.

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