00:00Mukesh Khanna Ji, thank you so much first of all for speaking with Asianet News.
00:15This is a very sombre day.
00:16We are talking on the day when Dharmeendru Ji is no more with us and I know that you
00:21have worked with him in a lot of movies.
00:23Tell me some of your memorable experiences that you have had with Dharmeendru Ji when
00:27you worked with him in those movies.
00:29You see, I can say in one line that he was bigger in near life than what he was on the
00:35screen.
00:36He was real, like a person should be.
00:41I mean, usually when you have lots of stars, there are a number of stars, but you will hardly
00:47find somebody star who is also a human being also.
00:51And he is the example of that kind of actor or human being.
00:58He was humble.
00:59He was very, very compassionate.
01:01He used to talk to people.
01:03He does not insult anybody.
01:06very positive character.
01:09What was he on the screen?
01:10He was also on the real life.
01:12I had an opportunity to work with him for about five to six films.
01:15The Hilka was one of the very big films where I lead him to a mission.
01:22And I was just coming out of the Mahabharata.
01:25And I remember the incident with him that first he thought that he is a new boy.
01:32And I was given the command.
01:34And I was a person who doesn't have one leg.
01:37One leg was cut.
01:38Nobody knew how he used to.
01:40And then there was a sequence where I lead, I said, let me lead the mission.
01:45And then when I get the mission, he is called from back.
01:48He was a senior officer.
01:50And he, I'd lead the whole guy.
01:52Nasir Dhun Shah, Jafri, Aditya Pancholi, they were all together.
01:57And, and, and we had a memorable experience in, in Manali, Anir Sharma was director.
02:03I, why I'm saying about this film, because this film gave me, he also came to know about me.
02:09I also came to know about him.
02:10After that, I did about five films with him.
02:13And I remember one incident with him that when, when my leg is being, is not there,
02:21I, I take out my, my leg from the thing, and I throw it on a, a, bees.
02:28And then he sees that this major doesn't have the one leg.
02:30And I'm climbing the mountain.
02:32And then he gives me a hand.
02:33And I said, I don't want anybody's hand.
02:35And I, myself, climb up.
02:37There he starts getting experience about this man.
02:40That he has come for a mission.
02:41His daughter is there.
02:43In the end of the sequence, the climax, they, they, I am, I am totally,
02:49they try to take care of me because my leg is totally infected.
02:54There's a totally gangrene over there.
02:56But when I get up from this thing, that he's there fighting with Amrishpur, his gang,
03:00in hospital.
03:01And I say, what are you doing?
03:03I'm not important.
03:03The mission is important.
03:05He says, Major, hum aapko akera nahi chhod sakdi.
03:08I say, I chhod sakdi.
03:08And I convinced them and that, that I'm not important.
03:11Mission is important.
03:13Go, let me live.
03:14And then ultimately, I convinced them to go down like this,
03:18from the behind, window behind.
03:21And then, Amrishpuri from their outers that blow off the whole hospital.
03:26And I'm fighting alone with them.
03:27And then they blow off.
03:28And all these five people standing downstairs, they salute the, the Ranjit Singh.
03:33Like, why I'm saying this, this shows his nature that naturally, he, he told Anil Sharma,
03:40the director, may be karan, may be salute karan, big actor and a fresher.
03:46Anil Sharma said, aapki marzi, aap karan nah karan hai.
03:50Somehow he didn't.
03:52Very funny thing.
03:54And then after six months of shooting with me in Manali and in Bombay,
03:58Anil Sharma told me that he came and he said, Anil,
04:02Anil, you are mahi karan hai.
04:03And one shot he gave in Film City, saluting me, has this thing.
04:08That shows his character.
04:09Yeah, that shows how even after a lot of fame that he had, he continued to be,
04:15to carry such humility and to be so grounded.
04:19Yeah.
04:19Any life lesson Mukeshji that you learned from Dharmendra Ji?
04:23I'll, I'll give you an example of how he used to treat the fans,
04:27how he used to treat his people who used to come to meet him. Such a big actor.
04:31I remember I was shooting in Filmistan studio.
04:34That time there was no, no vans, like vanity vans.
04:38We used to sit and I have a trunk and chai and kept there.
04:43I was there, he was there, four, three, four people were there.
04:46His bodyguard was there. And then suddenly a man came from somewhere,
04:49it was dark slightly. And he said,
04:51I'm a very big fan. I've come from Bengal. Can I hug you?
04:58No, this is very, very, very unusual request from a fan.
05:01He used to understand his hand. He used to understand his autographs.
05:04But I wanted to get your head.
05:06And, and we were just looking and he got up Dharm ji.
05:11And he got his head. His bodyguard was attentive.
05:15He said, you can never know. He can take a chakul.
05:17And then when he sat, I said, Dharm ji, I love this, this, this attitude,
05:24or this nature of yours. You know what he said?
05:26Mokesh, piaar vandoo ge nahi to piaar milega ka kaas.
05:31Yeah.
05:32You can see who does it.
05:34Today, one actor is in a bulletproof car.
05:38He has four monsters with him.
05:40I am also going to go.
05:42I am going to give him a monster.
05:43I tell him what he needs to do.
05:44But then they have, you know, they push everybody.
05:48And this man coming from nowhere
05:50and then getting a reward of even galay milna.
05:53And nobody does.
05:54Why do I talk either?
05:56Other other, they can't even shake hands with the actor.
05:58They can't even.
05:59So this is one nature of this, which I always say,
06:02Kitana bhi bada star ban jau ap.
06:05Aap human raho pahle.
06:07You will get very little. Here was the actor who was bigger as a human being than he was an actor.
06:16He played in the beginning all roles, then he played even action roles, then even comedy. His face used to show the honesty.
06:27That is what I always say. If a person is honest, he can be a good actor.
06:32Even when he was in hospital, we saw a lot of videos of fans crying and so disturbed because of the health.
06:42This fraternity, I mean, a lot of young actors also coming and they also draw a lot of inspiration from Dharmeendriji.
06:48What do you have to say about that? Because he had this legacy that he left behind.
06:53I will tell them learn from Dharamji to be very consistent. Learn from Dharamji to be very, very honest with the work.
07:01Learn from Dharamji to be a human being also.
07:06We become a big actor, then suddenly we forget our people.
07:10This is not a human being.
07:11This is not a human being.
07:13This is a human being from Punjab.
07:15And I remember that they said in a video,
07:18they had to have a ticket on bus,
07:23I was standing in on thing on bus,
07:25I was sleeping at the bus on the bus,
07:26and sat down to 20 km from going back on the film.
07:28This actor was doing,
07:30was somewhat of a struggle to a little bit.
07:32But he was handsome. He was rugged looking.
07:34And then I learned from him how to be good with people in real life also.
07:40So I have learnt from him to be a good human being. I would always say that you will not get such an actor in our industry.
07:54I don't see them in their eyes. This is an actor who is in their eyes.
07:59That's why I will tell you a little incident that you will know about what people think about Punjab.
08:05One time he told me, Mukesh Ji, I got out of his house in his house.
08:11Then there was a person running on the second floor.
08:13Second floor of the house. He said, who are you?
08:18He said, yes, we came from Punjab, only to meet him.
08:22That man went up and opened his house.
08:26He said, my father's house, Mukesh Ji, was opened.
08:28People came to Punjab and said, you will be dead.
08:32And he was so respected.
08:34And this was Hidaram Ji.
08:36Our security guard is not allowed to keep you in the middle.
08:40So one must learn from him to be a human being also.
08:44How much you become an actor.
08:46But you will find a place on the ground.
08:49If you are on the ground, you will find a place on the ground.
08:51If you are on the ground, you will find a peace on the ground.
08:55This man was right at the ground.
08:57If you talk about his acting, he had a very large range.
09:01I mean, he did romance.
09:03He did action.
09:04He did comedy.
09:05And he just thrived in every role that he did.
09:09Honesty.
09:10Again, I would say it's honesty.
09:12I have seen him working.
09:13I have seen him getting involved and arguing with the director.
09:17And then slowly, I did TADA with him.
09:20I have seen him sitting and talking to the director.
09:24And cooperating with him.
09:26Now, he did all kinds of roles.
09:28After Shole, you must see that sequence where he is on the tank top.
09:33And he says,
09:34He says,
09:35I'm going to jump.
09:36I'm going to jump.
09:37I'm going to jump.
09:38I'm going to jump.
09:39Comedy.
09:40And he got the sur of the comedy.
09:42From a he-man.
09:43From an action man.
09:44He became a comedy man.
09:46You see other films after that.
09:47He used to do so lovely in the comedy also.
09:50Song picturization.
09:51He was not a dancer.
09:53But his dance style was his own style.
09:56People used to still copy.
09:58Nobody can dance the way he used to dance.
10:00Yes.
10:01He was not a dancer actor.
10:03But when he does it,
10:04he used to do it all romantic dances.
10:06All his songs are hit.
10:08And one more thing is,
10:10I'll say,
10:11even Sunny Deval,
10:13he's a big one,
10:151.5kg.
10:17Dharam ji.
10:18Dharam ji.
10:19He was fighting.
10:20He was thinking that the people are killing the people.
10:22Today,
10:23people are a lot of people.
10:24They're a lot of people.
10:25They're a lot of people.
10:26They're a lot of people.
10:27They're a lot of people.
10:28They're a lot of people.
10:30They're a lot of people.
10:31We're not going to stop.
10:32We're not going to stop,
10:33can't stop.
10:34He can't stop.
10:35We're not going to stop.
10:36He can't stop.
10:37That was his image.
10:38Which he got it,
10:39maybe I'll again repeat.
10:41I think because he was honest with his work.
10:43He was honest with his work.
10:44He was honest with his work.
10:46You're an incredible actor.
10:49If you're honest,
10:50you're an incredible actor.
10:51You're great actor.
10:52He was honest.
10:53That's why he,
10:54I mean,
10:55In the beginning he was not a great actor,
10:56learning from any school.
10:57not from any big family, a raw man from this thing, but on his face there was a truth,
11:03look at his own work, look at his love, look at his films,
11:09on his face, you should have to say your eyes, your eyes would have to say,
11:14I was saying my eyes would collaborate, there are some actors who are saying something,
11:18but they are saying something else, because they are crying, they are crying,
11:22that's why I could do maybe Bishwav Pitama because my eyes,
11:25he said Devavaratni, I can take everything for you, because of the belief inside.
11:32Did you get a chance to meet him when he was in the hospital and trying to recover?
11:37Yeah, yeah, yeah, good thing to tell you, because I went to his house six days before,
11:42after he was shifted to his home, I knew I wouldn't be able to meet him,
11:46but I met Sunny, I met Bobby, and I told Sunny very well,
11:51I played father of Bobby in Barsat, I told Bobby,
11:55I said you made a body, he said yes,
11:58it came to me late, my father told me that your mind is late,
12:01and I told Sunny that his father was being a father,
12:04I mean, I had done the role of Dhanam Ji, it was his own film,
12:07and then I said, he is very strong,
12:10I said, he is strong man, he will come out of it,
12:14but God is God,
12:16God is the one who calls him when he calls him.
12:19Final words, Mukesh Ji, a lot of hearts are broken today,
12:23not just friends and family, but fans also,
12:26what are your words to console them?
12:29I would say that you have been very loved,
12:34Dhanam Ji, Dhanam Ji,
12:35and I see that they have a lot of love,
12:37and they have a lot of love,
12:38and they have a lot of love,
12:39and they have a lot of love.
12:40You are the same as they want,
12:42because there is such an actor,
12:43who has nothing in the cupboard,
12:44who doesn't have anything in the cupboard,
12:45who doesn't have a skeleton,
12:48who doesn't show them,
12:49Dhanam Ji was open man,
12:51and open man,
12:52if they were in real life,
12:54Dhanam Ji,
12:55follow me.
12:56In reality,
12:57I am honest.
12:59Honesty will give you a lot of success,
13:01but when it will give success,
13:03it will be a lot of success.
13:04And I do not say that,
13:06that you are acting like that,
13:08but I will say that,
13:09if you have a zeal,
13:11honesty,
13:12learn from Dhanam Ji.
13:13Manoj Kumar also said,
13:16that Dhanam Ji,
13:19Manoj Ji,
13:20who would go to the audition,
13:25who would say that Manoj was very handsome,
13:28and he would get to the work,
13:29and we would not get to the work.
13:31But they did struggle,
13:33but when he came out,
13:34he came out.
13:35Sathya Kaam,
13:36who was in his films,
13:38he felt rugged,
13:40I always felt like a football player,
13:43I felt like that actor,
13:45who was handsome,
13:46who are very, very actors,
13:47who are Dilip Skubha,
13:48Raj Kapoor,
13:49and beautiful faces.
13:50His face was rugged,
13:51but he saw that he is a sportsman,
13:54and that worked for him.
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