Flashback on Hema Malini's birthday: How Dharmendra became Dilawar Khan

New Delhi, Oct 16: Bollywood's original Dream Girl Hema Malini turned 63 today, and the beautiful actress has two daughters whom she adores. But now, a flashback to the Seventies, how Sanjeev Kumar proposed to Hema, was rejected, then Jeetendra proposed her, and amidst drama, withdrew, and how Dharmendra became Dilawar Khan to marry his lady love. The story has all the ingredients of a masala film. First, Sanjeev Kumar took the initiative to offer the proposal of marriage to Hema Malini through his good friend Jeetendra. Jitendra conveyed Sanjeev's message to Hema saying that he was a true gentleman and a bachelor. Jeetendra was trying to obliquely point out about the other man Dharmendra who was then married to Prakash Kaur. Hema Malini rejected the offer saying, she liked Sanjeev but did not love him. A broken-hearted and dejected Sanjeev Kumar then decided never to marry and hit the bottle. Jitendra, who had a romantic corner in his heart for Hema, then approached the actress.He confessed his feeling to the lady, but she neither denied nor accepted. Jitendra was a good dancer and so was Hema. They were a good pair on-screen and the actor was confident of pairing up with Hema in real life too. Hema was then in two minds about whom to choose: the He-Man and the Jumping Jack. Hema Malini in an interview on “Koffee with Karan”, confessed that the rumours of affairs with Jitendra and Dharmendra in those days were true, and thanked media for highlighting her real affairs only.Jitendra with his family rushed to Hema's bungalow in Chennai to meet her family alongwith the proposal for marriage. There was a big drama in Hema's house. When Dharmendra came to know about the meeting, he called up Hema and asked her to think before taking any decision. But it wasn't just Hema's phone ringing. Jitendra too got a call. It was his long time girlfriend Shobha Sippy. Shobha too asked Jitendra to not to take any decision in a rush. The meeting was inconclusive. The next day Dharmedra approached the lady and convinced her to say no to Jeetu's proposal. After Hema's decision, Jeetendra later got married to his girlfriend Shobha.But still it wasn't easy for the duo to tie the knot. Dharmendra belonged to a farmer family of Phagwara in Punjab, while Hema's family was a true blue South Indian. They were two poles apart. When her family came to know about their affair, her father got more possessive and accompanied her on her shooting.Hema in an interview said she used to dream of a man like Dharamji but not exactly him. At that time there were rumours of Hema's family putting pressures on the actress to call off her relationship with Garam Dharam. In 1976, Stardust magazine published Hema-Dharmendra in a romantic photoshoot. The duo revealed their true feelings. Daram even said what will happen if they ever fell apart.In 1978, Hema's father died which was a big setback for her family. Dharam came in full support for her family and the chances of duo getting married increased. But as per law, Dharmendra, a Hindu, could not marry Hema until he divorced his first wife. To avoid this, Dharmendra and Hema changed their religion to Islam, and the actor was named Dilawar Khan and Hema was called Aisha. The duo finally married but it was a quiet event and nobody came to know about it. This fact this didn't hinder their relationship and on May 2, 1980, the couple re-married in Hema's South Indian Iyer tradition. But it wasn't everything happy going for the couple, as Dharam was still not divorced from his first wife. Both Dharmendra's sons from his first wife Prakash- Sunny and Bobby Deol, disliked their stepmother. As a result, even today, Hema Malini lives separately with her two daughters, Esha Deol and Ahana Deol, while Dharmendra lives with his two sons.