Bollywood’s dream girl, Hema Malini has stolen millions of hearts over a decades-long career in Bollywood. While she has her hands in politics too, her acting career is well cemented in history. Many will agree that her contribution to Indian cinema is certainly praiseworthy and at 73 years of age, the veteran actress is as elegant and graceful as always.
After being in the industry for so long, it may seem almost impossible to not know everything about Hema Malini, but here are a few lesser-known facts that only die-hard fans are bound to know.
Check out some facts about Hema Malini’s life that will leave you stumped:
Age is just a number:
Let’s start off with the most obvious one. Hema Malini is indeed just 6 years older than Sunny Deol. Sunny is her husband and superstar Dharmendra’s son from his first wife Prakash Kaur. She is also 13 years younger than her husband but never let that hinder their relationship.
Started her career from the South:
Hema Malini started off working in Tamil cinema where she was rejected a number of times, sometimes even for being ‘too skinny’. She then moved to Mumbai and was immediately signed by producer Ananthaswamy for Sapnon Ka Saudagar whom she had a very ugly falling out. He apparently had tied her down in a very draconian contract and she once revealed in an old interview that her mother and she were taken advantage of due to their financial ignorance.
The Kapoor clan:
Did you know Hema Malini is the only actress who has acted alongside all Kapoor’s of her generation? Well, now you do. She acted alongside Raj Kapoor in Sapno Ka Saudagar, Shammi Kapoor in Andaaz, Shashi Kapoor in Trishul, Randhir Kapoor in Haath ki Safaai and finally Rishi Kapoor in Ek Chaadar Maili Si.
The IT Girl of her time:
Hema was the fourth highest-paid actress from 1971-1975 and the second-highest-paid actress till1985 along with Zeenat Aman. She was also considered to be somewhat of a trendsetter and was one of the first ones to have worn bell-bottoms and shirts on the big screen.
Some very star-studded marriage proposals:
In her autobiography ‘Hema Malini: The Authorized Biography’ she had revealed that two of the major superstars of the retro era, Jeetendra and Sanjeev Kapoor had approached her with marriage proposals. We all know who won her heart in the end, though
Dharmendra’s tactics to win over his ladylove:
During the shoot of their iconic movie Sholay, Dharmendra had reportedly asked the crew to flicker with the lighting, just so that he gets to re-do his shot with Hema. The man was in love and only wanted to hold on to the love of his life for as long as he could.
