She sometimes wonders if life would have been different had she married an IAS officer or a top rank engineer, the kind of person her father would have wanted for her. Then, may be she would have settled down in Chennai or the US, spent her time dishwashing in a swanky apartment or perhaps running a dance school.
Giving a peep into her much hyped unconventional marriage, dream girl Bollywood star, danseuse-turned politician Hema Malini has said not many would believe but she never thought of marrying Dharmendra.
"I dont say that what happened was the best option. Nobody calculatedly falls in love. It just happens! Whenever I thought of my life partner, I always imagined someone like him - handsome, strong, with a peaceful face, but never him. It was however, destined that it had to be him," she has said in 'Hema Malini', her Authorized Biography by film critic Bhawana Somayya.
Hema Malini, born in a Tamil-speaking Chakravarthy family, was a classical dancer, until she decided to build a career in acting in 1964. She was dropped from her first project, a Tamil film, because the filmmaker, Sridhar, suddenly developed cold feet and thought that she was not 'heroine material'.
Of course humiliation struck her hard and it was only later when none other than Raj Kapoor signed her on for Sapno Ka Saudagar did she set herself on path to glory. Words like 'She is going to be the biggest star of the Indian screen' coming from the Late Showman only boosted her confidence further and there was no looking back ever since then. She has to her credit in close to 140 movies and also produced and directed two movies, and directed a TV serial 'Noopur'.
After turning down marriage proposals from Sanjeev Kumar and Jeetendra, she met with hot fellow actor, Dharmendra, both were attracted to each other and wanted to get married. Dharmendra, who was already married to Prakash Kaur, and had two sons, Sunny and Bobby, could not marry Hema as Prakash refused to divorce him. Since, according to Hindu Marriage Act, a man cannot re-marry until his first wife’s death, Hema and Dharmendra converted into Islam in order to be untied legally. Three years after their marriage, Hema subsequently gave birth to Esha and then later to Ahana.
This isn't all as the book also gives a reader insight into how Jeetendra and Hema Malini were almost engaged before a quick turn of events changed the situation. For those interested in finding more about it, the book does provide some food for consumption.
However, in case of this book, it is much more than just visible that Bhawana has gone all out to make sure that not a single detail is missed out in her research. Of course, one can't say that practically everything would have eventually made it to the book since no one would actually expose his/her life's every intimate detail to the fullest in print for consumption to the world around her. Still, Bhawana seems to have got all the facts right, whether it is do with people, events or places.
The authorized biography of 'DreamGirl' Hema is available on almost every online book store one can find on the net. Also there are translated copies of the book in other languages, one being in Marathi under the title 'Hema Malini - Adhikrut Jeevankatha' by Pune-based Ameya Prakashan.
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