Hema Malini and Dharmendra’s marriage was the talk of the town back in the day, and not without reason — it had all the makings of a Bollywood blockbuster. Hema, the reigning ‘Dream Girl’ of Bollywood, and Dharmendra, the ultimate He-man, falling head over heels on the sets of Tum Haseen Main Jawan. But there was one big twist — Dharmendra was already married to Prakash Kaur.
The story goes that Dharmendra was so smitten with Hema Malini that he couldn’t let anything stand in their way, not even his existing marriage. Since his first wife wasn’t willing to grant a divorce, they decided to take a different route. In a move that left everyone talking, they both converted to Islam to get married, with Dharmendra adopting the name Dilawar Khan and Hema becoming Aisha Bi. They had a private Nikah ceremony in 1980, and later, to honour Hema’s roots, they even had an Iyengar-style wedding.
Hema Malini once opened up about her unconventional marriage with Dharmendra in a 2023 interview with Bharathi S Pradhan for Lehren Retro. She had said, “Nobody wants to be like that; it happens. Automatically, what happens, you have to accept,’ she said in the interview. Otherwise nobody will feel like they want to live their life like this. Every woman wants to have a husband, children, like a normal family. But somewhere, it went out of the way… I am not feeling bad about it, or sulking about it. I am happy with myself. I have my two children, and I have brought them up very well.”
When Dharmendra and Hema Malini decided to married while he was still married to Prakash Kaur, their families weren’t too thrilled about it. Hema’s father was strictly opposed to the idea, fearing the backlash of her marrying a man who was already spoken for. But the heart wants what it wants, and Hema and Dharmendra were determined to be together, even if it meant going against their families’ wishes. After dating for five years, they tied the knot.
Dharmendra married his first wife, Prakash Kaur, in 1954 at the age of 19. They have four children: sons Sunny and Bobby Deol, both actors, and daughters Vijeta and Ajieta. With Hema Malini, he has two daughters – Esha and Ahana Deol.
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