Actor and filmmaker Sunny Deol is working on a documentary and a book on his father, the screen legend Dharmendra. “A team that includes writers, camera crew and other technicians has been finalised and has started the work on the docu-drama that will encapsulate Dharmendra’s life over the last eight decades,” according to a press release.
Another team is working on a book comprising photographs and anecdotes by and about the actor, the press release added. “He remembers the smallest details of his films, of the people he met during the course of his life and the life he lived in Punjab before he came to Mumbai to become a movie star,” Deol said in the press release.
Born Dharam Singh Deol on December 8, 1935, Dharmendra made his debut in Dil Bhi Tera Hum Bhi Tere in 1960. Among his early films were Bimal Roy’s Bandini (1963) and Haqeeqat (1964). Phool aur Pathar (1966) is credited with having catapulted Dharmendra towards stardom, and the solid run continued, with exceptions, until the 1980s. His recent appearances include Johnny Gaddaar (2007) and the Yamla Pagla Deewana films, in which he stars alongside his actor sons Sunny and Bobby Deol.
Deol’s book will be the second English-language publication about Dharmendra’s life. Mumbai journalist Rajiv Vijayakar’s unauthorised effort, titled Dharmendra: A Biography: Not Just a He-Man (Rupa Publications), will be out in late December.