Firstpost at IFFI 2025 | Sunny Deol's first director Rahul Rawail recalls memories with Dharmendra: 'He would watch his son's film every day in theatre and...'

Dharmendra, the legendary actor of Hindi cinema, passed away at the age of 89. Tributes and condolences are pouring in since late afternoon. Celebrities have arrived at his funeral. He shall never be forgotten.

The veteran actor got married at the age of 19 in the year 1954 to Prakash Kaur. They have four children together- Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol, and daughters Vijeta and Ajeeta.

While talking about  Dharmendra in an interview, Kaur said, “He is the first love and the last man in my life… however far he may be from me, if I need him, I know he’ll be there. I have not lost my trust in him.”

Sunny Deol made his acting debut in 1983 with Rahul Rawail’s Betaab that came out in August. And at the ongoing IFFI in Goa, the veteran filmmaker recalled his memories of the He-Man of Hindi cinema and his passion for acting and love for his children.

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“Dharam ji used to come by the evening flight at 7.30 from Bombay. He would reach Delhi at 10 o’clock at night. I would go to the airport to fetch him. He would come straight to the circus where we were shooting. He would shoot till 5 in the morning. And I would then take him back straight to the airport. He would get me to a flight. And he would come back to Bombay to shoot for Aadmi Aur Insaan for BR Chppra.  Dharmendra did this for one month.”

Rawail added, “I don’t think there’s anybody else who would manage to do that thing. And I’ve been very close with the family because I happened to direct Betaab, which was his son’s first film, Sunny's first film. I remember at the shooting, we were shooting in Kashmir. And he came one day, he just reached there. And he said, ‘I’ll just say hello to everyone.’ And after three days, he said, ‘I am going back.’ I asked why and he said, ‘This shooting is so boring.’

“And there are lots of these things about him, these quips. And when Betaab released, there’s a theatre in Bombay called Gaiety, which is just adjacent to my house. And every evening at six o’clock, Dharamji would be there, seeing Betaab every day. And he was so excited, after the film. Every day, he would come over to my house, just sit and would talk about the film as though it was the first time he’d seen it.”