Veteran Bollywood actor, Dharmendra Kewal Krishan Deol popularly known as Dharmendra, is dead. He was aged 89.
Dharmendra has been in and out of South Mumbai’s Breach Candy hospital for several days before passing away on Monday.
The Bollywood star will be remembered for his unforgettable roles in movies like Sholay (1975), Ghazab (1982), among others.
In his tribute to the late movie legend, Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, said his passing “marks the end of an era in Indian cinema.”
Born on December 8, 1935, Dharmendra appeared in more than 300 films and was dubbed the “original He-Man of Bollywood”.
Speaking in a 2018 interview with the BBC, Dharmendra revealed that he defied his father’s wish to study as he fell in love with films and wanted to be a hero. “I watched my first film when I was in the ninth standard, and I was hooked. I was wondering, where is this heaven where all these beautiful people live? I thought I must find my way there. I felt like they were mine and I belonged to them,” he said.
Dharmendra’s sons, Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol, also took after their famous father. They are both successful Bollywood actors.