DYK Dharmendra Objected To Esha Deol Joining Films; Know What Happened Next

Bollywood actor Esha Deol, daughter of Dharmendra and Hema Malini, once shared that her father did not want her to enter the film industry and preferred that she marry instead.

In 2024, Esha Deol told Hauterrfly, “He didn't want me to enter films. He was rightfully orthodox because he was a Punjabi, so he wanted me to get married and settle down at 18 because that was his conditioning, he's coming from there.”

The actor, who won the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut for Koi Mere Dil Se Poochhe, said the women in his family grew up with certain values, but watching her mother on screen inspired her to follow a similar path.

"The women in his family are brought up that way. But my upbringing was very different in my house, seeing my mom act in films and her dance gave me direction. It was ingrained inside me that I wanted to do something," she said. Deol added that convincing her father took time.

"It took a long time to convince him, it was not easy, but today is a different story," she said.

Esha and Dharmendra worked together in the 2011 film "Tell Me O KKhuda", directed by Hema Malini. The film also featured the late Vinod Khanna, Rishi Kapoor and Farooq Sheikh.

She admitted she "wasn't prepared" for the comparisons with her mother that followed and said she remembers "feeling uncomfortable".

Known for her performances in No Entry, Shaadi No. 1 and Kill Them Young, Deol most recently appeared in the 2025 film Tumko Meri Kasam alongside Anupam Kher and Adah Sharma.

Dharmendra dies at 89

Veteran actor and the industry's he-man, Dharmendra, breathed his last ahead of his 90th birthday on December 8. The Padma Bhushan awardee was rushed to the Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai on Monday afternoon, where he passed away.

Family members and colleagues from the film industry have been arriving at his residence and the crematorium to pay their last respects. Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol performed the last rites this afternoon, while Hema Malini appeared before the media with folded hands. Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, and other well-wishers gathered to bid farewell to the legendary star. PM Narendra Modi condoles Dharmendra's death, calling it the "end of an era".