Hema Malini’s parents were apparently not happy with her affair with Dharmendra.
Hema Malini had once confessed that back in the day, her father tried his best to keep her away from Dharmendra as the actor was already married.
Hema Malini may have been very happy with her “unconventional marriage” with Dharmendra, but her parents were against her relationship with the Chupke Chupke star, who was already married to Prakash Kaur when he fell in love with Hema.
According to Hema’s authorised biography Hema Malini: Beyond The Dream Girl, her mother Jaya Chakravathy tried to convince the actress to marry Jeetendra instead. Hema and Jeetendra’s families had even flown down to Chennai for their secret wedding but the news got leaked in a leading daily. A shocked Dharmendra travelled to Chennai along with Jeetendra’s then-girlfriend and now-wife Shobha to confront their respective partners.
Despite being repeatedly asked to leave, “a slightly drunk” Dharmendra refused to go, and was eventually allowed to talk to Hema alone, according to the biography, quoted by Hindustan Times in an article.
“Inside the room, the two were going through an emotional turmoil of catastrophic proportions. Dharmendra, distraught and on the verge of falling to pieces, kept begging Hema not to make such a ‘big mistake’. Outside, it was Shobha’s turn to give vent to her rage. When a nonchalant Jeetendra announced to Shobha his decision to marry Hema, apparently all hell broke loose,” the book reads, according to HT.
“As everyone waited desperately for an answer, Hema quietly shook her head. The insult was far too much for Jeetendra and he stormed out of the house with his parents,” the book states.
Jeetendra went on to tie the knot with Shobha on October 18, 1974. They have two children – producer Ekta Kapoor and actor Tusshar Kapoor. Hema, on the other hand, married Dharmendra on August 21, 1979. They have two daughters – actor Esha Deol and Ahana Deol. Meanwhile, Dharmendra and Prakash Kaur have four children together– two sons Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol, and two daughters Vijeta and Ajeita.
