Veteran actor Hema Malini once said that she had no jealousy or resentment towards Dharmendra’s first wife, Prakash Kaur and her sons, Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol. Bollywood’s Dream Girl said that she trusted and loved Dharmendra enough to tide over any such misgivings or worries. Hema Malini and Dharmendra have been married for forty years. Their marriage had been the subject of much discussion in tabloids at the time and Hema admitted that her parents were not quite pleased with the union as Dharmendra was a married man, but she couldn’t imagine anyone else. She said that she and Dharmendra had been together for too long, and to consider someone else at that point, ‘it would have been wrong’.
In a 1999 interview with Simi Garewal, Simi mentioned Hema Malini never tried ‘competing’ with his other family for his attention. Hema answered, “No, not at all. You love a person so much, and you get so much love from that person, so how can you torture that person for such petty things? That’s the reason why I never bothered. I never irritated him or tortured him. I wanted the love to continue. Nothing can come between us. I understand his problem. I adjust everything according to him, for which he loves me more. When I give so much, I get so much.”
Hema Malini and Dharmendra in Seeta Aur Geeta. (Express archive photo)
When Simi asked whether she holds any resentment towards the other family, Hema answered, “Not at all. That’s why I’m the happiest person today. You love a person so much, what is the point of torturing them?” When Simi asked if they had discussed the situation before marriage, Hema answered that they hadn’t, indicating that she just accepted the circumstances without question.
In her biography, Hema Malini: The Dream Girl, authored by Ram Kamal Mukherjee, she opens up about her marriage with Dharmendra and the equation she shares with Prakash Kaur. She also revealed that she never visited the ‘other’ family as she didn’t want to disturb them. She had met Dharmendra’s first wife Prakash Kaur on several occasions, most of them social gatherings, but after her marriage, they didn’t see each other. “I didn’t want to disturb anyone. I am happy with whatever Dharamji did for me and my daughters. He played the role of a father, like any father would do. I guess I am happy with that,” Hema Malini said.
Dharmendra and Hema Malini with daughters Esha and Ahana Deol. (Photo: Express Archives)
“Today I am a working woman and I have been able to maintain my dignity because I have devoted my life to art and culture. I guess, if the situation was even slightly different from this, I wouldn’t be what I am today. Though I have never spoken about Prakash, I respect her a lot. Even my daughters respect Dharamji’s family. The world wants to know about my life in detail, but that is not for others to know. It’s no one’s business,” she added.