Hema and Jeetendra: Off beat love stories

The love story of Hema Malini and Dharmendra is legendary. However, the actress was also entangled in a love quadrangle of sorts before she got hitched. Three of industry’s biggest superstars — the much married Dharmendra, Jeetendra and Sanjeev Kumar, were reportedly vying for her affection. Much has been written about it, with those close to them revealing several stories of how the three superstars had allegedly tried to woo her. It also came as a surprise when Hema Malini came on the show, Koffee With Karan, a couple of years ago and confirmed that all the rumours around the four were, in fact, true. Even though the Hema–Dharmendra pair lit up the silver screen with more than 40 films together and their on-screen jodi was much appreciated by the mass and the class alike, what is worth noticing is the fact that Jeetendra and Hema Malini had delivered more than 20 films together. Here are some must-watch films featuring the duo…

Waris:


This was a film that released in the year 1969. More on the comic side, this film was directed by Ramanna and produced by Vasu Menon. The film is loosely based on the ideals of socialism, especially the part when the young prince and his mother run away from the palace abandoning the king’s household. The film was very well received by the audience and the lead pair’s performance was appreciated. This film was amongst the first few films that had featured the pair together. it had turned out to be a huge commercial success, eventually becoming the 9th highest grossing film of that year.

Khusbhoo:

Khushboo released in the same year as Ramesh Sippy’s Sholay and both the films managed to carve a niche of their own. Khushboo was a film that nudged you, tickled you, and in the end, enthralled you. Based on a novel, Pandit Moshai, written by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, Khushboo was the antithesis of what cinema stood for, in the mid-1970s. No larger-than-life projection, no dream girl, no booming guns and no heavy dialogues spoken. It has just simple lines which flowed out of and emphasised on the coherence of the narrative. The cherry on the cake was a rural background at a time when films often started with small town hero coming to a big city! The lead pair of Jeetendra and Hema Malini was aeons away from their image.

Kinara:


This is another endearingly splendid masterpiece from Gulzar that featured Dharmendra in a prominent role. Jeetendra plays the rich nephew of a famous architect. While driving to catch a performance by a noted classical dancer, played by Hema Malini, he meets with a disastrous road accident. The accident kills Dharmendra, who plays the love interest of Hema in the film. However when Jeetendra is smitten by Hema, he realises that he is the one responsible for the death of Hema’s love. Jeetendra delivers one of his career’s best performances and Hema too has played one of the toughest roles of her life in the film. She conveys longing, pain, anger and helplessness - all at the same time.

Jyoti:


This was a film based on the Kannada novel, Mallammana Pavada, written by B. Puttaswamayya. The film was the reason behind the inspiration for many other Bollywood movies to come and has a lot of remakes as well. The roles of the hunter-wielding Hema, trying to be a protector of her husband who is mentally unstable, played with elan by Jeetendra, garnered a lot of critical and mass appreciation at the same time. The power-packed performance by Hema and the restrained yet hard-hitting performance by Jeetendra, made the film an iconic one.