When Dharmendra, Hema Malini converted to Islam for love

Dharam Singh Deol, known mononymously as Dharmendra and Hema Malini met for the first time during a shoot for Tum Haseen Main Jawan. Both were starring in the film and reportedly fell in love during the production.

Hema was Indian cinema's 'Dream girl' and he was the original He-Man of Bollywood. But at that time, Dharmendra was married to Prakash Kaur with whom he has sons Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol and Hema had turned down marriage proposals from the likes of Sanjeev Kumar and Jeetendra. The yesteryear superstars, however, could not stay away from each other but Dharmendra could not marry again as per the Hindu Marriage Act and didn't want to divorce his wife, according to the Times of India.

So the actor converted to Islam in 1979 to marry the love of his life and legitimise that marriage, which he could not have done as a Hindu man. Dharmendra changed his name to Dilawar Khan Kewal Krishn while Hema changed hers to Aisha Bi R Chakravarty and the two tied the knot in 1980. Three years after their marriage, Hema subsequently gave birth to Esha and then later to Ahana.

The iconic reel and real life pair has never discussed their conversion in the media. Dharmendra, albeit, wished a fan Eid Mubarak in 2020 on his twitter account.

Earlier, on the stage of Indian Idol, Hema had shared that her father pulled all stops to make sure she doesn’t get to spend time with her now husband, Dharmendra. “Usually my mother or my aunt would accompany me on shoots. But during the shoot of one of my songs, my father accompanied me. He was worried that I and Dharam ji would spend time alone because he knew we were friends.”

She added, “I remember this when we used to travel in a car, my father would immediately sit next to me. But that didn’t stop Dharam ji from sitting in the seat right next to us.” Hema and Dharmendra acted in dozens of hit films including Sholay, Seeta Aur Geeta, Jugnu, Dream Girl, Naya Zamana and Razia Sultan.

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