When Dharmendra’s producer emptied his pockets to pay the actor Rs 51

Dharmendra recalled that he received only Rs 51 as the signing amount for his first film after producer T.M. Bihari and his associate emptied their pockets. The actor also credited director Arjun Hingorani for providing him food, shelter and early support in Mumbai

New Delhi: A raw youth out of Punjab, propelled into the Hindi film industry after a national talent hunt, Dharmendra was all agog when his first-ever producer asked him to wait for his signing amount, as he anticipated getting a princely sum.

However, he only ended up with a modest stipend — and that too, from what was available in their pockets! Recalling the incident almost two decades later, Dharmendra revealed that all he managed to get then was Rs 51.

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The Bollywood ‘He-Man’ said he had signed ‘Shola Aur Shabnam’ first and then T.M. Bihari’s ‘Dil Bhi Tera Hum Bhi Tere’. However, as it happened that the latter, which co-starred Balraj Sahni and Kumkum and was directed by Arjun Hingorani, was released first and hence became his debut film.

As an excited Dharmendra reached the studio, Bihari and one of his associates, called Thakkar, asked him to wait outside a cabin as they went in for a discussion among themselves before signing him on.

“I sat there in a buoyant mood, waiting for them to come out and offer me an advance of at least 500 rupees. Can you guess the amount that I received in the end? No? Then here it is – all of 51 rupees! This is how it transpired: first, Mr Bihari emptied his pockets and 17 rupees materialised. Mr Thakkar was next to do the same, following which the aggregate amount of 51 rupees was handed over to me,” the star wrote in an article titled ‘Mera Bachpan Aur Jawaani’, published in Urdu film magazine ‘Ruby’ in May 1977 (as translated in Yasir Abbasi’s ‘Yeh Un Dinon Ki Baat Hai: Urdu Memoirs of Cinema Legends’).

Dharmendra also had many reasons to be thankful to his first director, Hingorani, especially in his early days. Incidentally, it was also the first Hindi film for the director, who had debuted with India’s first Sindhi film, ‘Abana’ (1958), which introduced Sadhana Shivadasani, or Sadhana, as she would come to be known.

In the same article, Dharmendra revealed that he owed his living space and sustenance to Hingorani, who was helming his first Hindi film after debuting with India’s first Sindhi film, ‘Abana’ (1958), which introduced Sadhana Shivadasani, or Sadhana, as she would come to be known, as a child artiste.

He said that Hingorani allowed him to stay at his house and also arranged for his food as he had no money save that Rs 51.

“Arjun saheb took me along to a restaurant and told me that I could eat there without paying anything, as he had an arrangement of credit at the place. He instructed the manager there: ‘Give this boy two slices of bread, butter – but no jam – and a cup of tea every day. If he eats more than this, then ask him to pay up for the extra food.”

However, the Dharmendra-Hingorani relationship went far beyond their first film.

Hingorani, who was known for his penchant for having almost all his films have three-word titles, each beginning with the letter ‘K’, had another common element in them. ‘Kab? Kyoon? Aur Kahan?’ (1970), ‘Kahani Kismat Ki’ (1973), ‘Khel Khilari Ka’ (1977), ‘Katilon Ke Kaatil’ (1981), ‘Karishma Kudrat Ka’ (1985), ‘Kaun Kare Kurbanie’ (1991), and down to ‘Kaise Kahoon Ke… Pyaar Hai’ (2003), with ‘Sultanat’ (1986) being the only odd one out, all starred Dharmendra as the lead actor, though there were also the likes of Rishi Kapoor, Mithun Chakraborty, and Govinda as second leads in the latter ones.

Two of them also featured Dharmendra’s elder son, Sunny Deol, as a co-star.