The life of Bollywood’s ‘He-Man’ Dharmendra has always been full of struggle and hard work. When he entered the film industry from a small town in Punjab with big dreams, he never imagined that his journey would be so long and bright.

Hope dashed after getting signing money
Dharmendra’s entry into the film world was through a national talent hunt. This competition proved to be fate changing for him. Dharmendra was very excited about entering the film industry. He went to meet his first producer and was waiting for the signing money. They thought that they would get a huge payment, but something else happened. While waiting for the first signing money, he got only Rs 51.

Dharmendra told in an article titled ‘My childhood and youth’ published in the Urdu film magazine ‘Ruby’ in May 1977 that his first producer was T.M. Bihari and his associate Thakkar emptied their pockets and gave him Rs 51. Bihari had paid Rs 17 and Thakkar had paid the rest. He told that he was excited in the hope of getting Rs 500, but his first fee was so nominal. This incident became one of the fondest memories of his early struggles.

Respect was expressed for Hingorani
When Dharmendra signed the film ‘Shola Aur Shabnam’, the film ‘Dil Bhi Tera, Hum Bhi Tere’ was released as his debut. The film was directed by Arjun Hingorani and also starred Balraj Sahni and Kumkum. This was Hingorani’s first Hindi film, whereas before this he had made India’s first Sindhi film ‘Abana’. In the article, Dharmendra had thanked Hingorani for his early days.

He had neither a home nor money for food. In such a situation, Hingorani allowed Dharmendra to stay in her house and also made arrangements for food. Hingorani had made special arrangements for Dharmendra in the restaurant, in which he could take two slices of bread, butter and a cup of tea for free every day. He described this assistance as a valuable help in his life.

Worked together in many films
The relationship between Dharmendra and Hingorani was not limited to the first film. A special thing about Hingorani films was that the names of most of the films were of three words and the first letter of each word was ‘K’. Dharmendra always appeared in the lead role in these.

For example, ‘When?’ Why? Where else?’ (1970); However, the film ‘Sultanat’ (1986) was different from this rule.

Along with Dharmendra, other big actors like Rishi Kapoor, Mithun Chakraborty and Govinda also acted in these films of Hingorani. Later, Dharmendra’s son Sunny Deol also acted with him in some of Hingorani’s films.