The legendary Dharmendra, known as Bollywood’s ‘He-Man’ passed away on November 24 and unfortunately, just days before his 90th birthday. The ‘Sholay’ actor shared his birthday with his co-star of many movies Sharmila Tagore on December 8. The duo shared screen space in many movies like ‘Anupama’, ‘Devar’, ‘Naseeb’, ‘Mere Hum Dum Mere Dost’ but it is Hrishikesh Mukerjee’s ‘Chupke Chupke’ which continues to remain the most memorable. As the actress mourned Dharmendra’s demise, she was in tears and extremely emotional as she told TV9, “I will truly miss him. He was a very good friend of mine. Yes, ‘Chupke Chupke’ was everyone’s favourite film. We also shared the same birthday on December 8 and now I can never feel like celebrating my birthday.” In another chat with India Today, Tagore recalled an incident where he shielded her from the crowd. He was a caring person an oridnary man like that. He never acted like a star. That smile, that frankness… he would speak from the heart. He looked after his family, friends he was a very generous man. It’s difficult to find a man like him, someone who helped so many people. Today people think only about themselves” she said.Tagore added further, “We knew if we were with Dharam, we were safe. We didn’t have that kind of protection back then. He managed to take me out of there. I am so sad that he’s gone,” she added, remembering an incident when Dharmendra shielded her from a crowd. The actress also wished he would have made it. She revealed she was in touch with him and kept herself updated about his health. She said, “He was critical, but we were expecting him to get better. We wanted him to celebrate his birthday.” Dharmendra has left a huge void and his memories will remain etched in the hearts of his fans and his friends, co-stars from the industry.
