Hema Malini says her father tried to stop her and Dharmendra from spending time alone: ‘Even Dharam ji was no less’

Hema Malini said that back in the day, her father tried his best to stop her from spending time alone with Dharmendra during shoots. She made this revelation during a yet-to-be-aired episode of singing reality show Indian Idol 12.

Eventually, Hema tied the knot with Dharmendra, and they have been happily married for more than four decades now. They have two daughters - Esha Deol and Ahana Deol.

On Indian Idol 12, Hema revealed that her father made every effort to keep her away from Dharmendra, but he was no less. “Usually my mother or my aunt used to accompany me on shoots but during the shoot of one of the songs, my father accompanied me. He was worried that I and Dharam ji shouldn’t spend some time alone as he knew we were friends. I remember this when we used to travel in a car, my father used to immediately sit next to me. But even Dharam ji was no less. He used to sit in the next seat,” she said, according to The Indian Express.

When Dharmendra fell in love with Hema, he was already married to Prakash Kaur. He has four children with her - sons Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol, and daughters Ajeeta and Vijeta.

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According to Hema’s authorised biography Hema Malini: Beyond The Dream Girl, her parents were unhappy with her budding romance with the much-married Dharmendra. Her mother Jaya Chakravarthy felt that the only solution was to get her married to someone else and thought of Jeetendra.

Jeetendra and Hema were supposed to get married in Chennai but a ‘slightly inebriated’ Dharmendra crashed the wedding, after reading about it in the news, with Jeetendra’s then-girlfriend and now wife, Shobha.

Dharmendra refused to budge until he was allowed to speak to Hema alone and managed to persuade her to call off the wedding with Jeetendra.