Dharmendra: The Star Who Finished His Arc Early & Let The Myth Stand Alone |
Long before the action-hero silhouette calcified around him, Dharmendra was the quietly magnetic presence at the centre of some of Hindi cinema’s most tender moments. Vikram Phukan writes.
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AS WE LOOK BACK at Dharmendra’s career, that of one of India’s most enduring leading men, perhaps the defining image is that of a pioneering action hero. This is partly because the 1975 classic Sholay looms so impressively in his legacy. That film allowed him to lean into easy humour, into that outdoorsy masculinity audiences adored, and into the charmingly roguish romantic figure he had already perfected elsewhere. There is also the notion that his Veeru was mainly the buoyant counterpart to the gravitas of Amitabh Bachchan’s Jai. Perhaps this has more to do with how Bachchan’s later superstardom reshaped memories of the 1970s, and it is telling that Dharmendra ended up doing only one more major film with him afterwards ( Ram Balram, 1980). But Sholay gave Veeru a clear emotional and moral arc, and beyond the widely cherished comic scenes, many with long-time collaborator Hema Malini, he also anchors some of its most emotionally decisive moments, showing how comfortably he held multiple tones in a single frame. As the leading man who ‘didn’t die’, Sholay was first and foremost a Dharmendra vehicle, sitting at the centre of his screen persona, just as his Veeru was so unmistakably central to the film’s lasting power. ALSO FROM THE AUTHOR | 50 Years Of (Almost) Seeing Sholay For many of us who grew up in the VHS-saturated 1980s, Dharmendra was less a distant superstar and more a regular presence in our living rooms. Commercial fare seemed black-listed on Doordarshan, so we consumed them in movie marathons at home: a month of, say, Tarzan films, a Bachchan binge, a notorious run of horror titles, and always, somewhere in the pile, a Dharam-Hema film. The two appeared together as a romantic pairing in roughly twenty-six films, a number that made its way into the Limca Book of Records. Many of those films were playful and high-spirited but also eminently forgettable, like episodes in a long-running series rather than cinematic totems in their own right, held together more by the charm of their chemistry than by the sturdiness of the scripts around them. Malini, in particular, carried a lighter, more instinctive energy opposite him. What they built was a reliable, low-stakes comfort zone rather than a defining artistic chapter. Two titles in particular linger in memory, more as answers to a trivia question than anything. Dillagi (1978), their soft, gently observed Basu Chatterjee romance, cast them as professors, and was allowed on Doordarshan (its VHS tapes were harder to come by in Shillong, where smaller films didn’t always reach the video libraries). And then, much later, the action-packed Jaan Hatheli Pe (1987), now remembered, if at all, as their final stand as a screen couple. CONTINUE READING... Stream the latest films and shows with OTTplay's Power Play monthly pack, for only Rs 149. |
Premier League Week 12: Arsenal Take Charge; Chelsea’s Bench Delivers; City Survive Newcastle Chaos
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Chelsea’s deputies stepped up, Arsenal owned the derby, City scraped through a frantic battle, and Liverpool’s legends showed worrying decline, writes Manik Sharma.
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Chelsea’s backup guys are producing the goods AN AWAY TRIP to a dogged Burnley isn’t the kind of hurdle that the Clarets presented the last time the club were in the Premier League, but they are still an awkward team to contend with. For at least the first half of this game, it showed. The Blues, without their midfield lynchpin Moises Caicedo — who finally got a deserved rest — were slow out of the blocks, and ponderous on the ball. There were moments of danger from Burnley, but eventually, the Blues found their rhythm and attacking verve. Most impressive of all the deputies, filling in the big shoes, was Andre Santos’ excellent turn as a holding midfielder. In a week where both of Chelsea’s best players — Caicedo and Palmer — were missing in action, the rest of the squad found a way to pull through a tricky contest. All the more important since the next two opponents are the small matter of Barcelona and Arsenal. Watch the Chelsea vs Burnley match highlights on JioHotstar, via your OTTplay Premium subscription |
City blown away by Newcastle’s chaos The game between Newcastle and City can only be described as one word — frantic. Both sides were guilty of missing chances, exerting little to no control and offering clinching evidence of the unpredictable patterns of this current Premier League season. Though he scored a brace, the match-winner Harvey Barnes should have really put the game to bed much earlier. On a day when Erling Haaland endured a quieter game, Newcastle made sure City’s slick wingers and their midfield maestros never quite found their rhythm. One of the key issues with this version of Pep Guardiola’s City is its one-directional dependence on Haaland’s prolificity. Block that route, and City look like a blunt, albeit silky, sowing machine that keeps running into solid, infertile ground. CONTINUE READING... Premier League matches come to you live and exclusive on JioHotstar, with an OTTplay Premium subscription for only Rs 149 per month. Don’t miss a minute! |
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