When Dharmendra returned to his childhood home and spoke of the siblings he lost: Maine aakr dekha toh voh guzar gyi...

Dharmendra on his siblings

As Bollywood continues to grieve the passing of Dharmendra, memories of the beloved star have begun resurfacing—some joyful, some heartbreaking.

Among the most emotional of these is a moment from a few years ago, when the actor returned to his ancestral home in Sahnewal, Punjab, and allowed himself to revisit the wounds he had carried quietly throughout his life.

Standing inside the modest house where he grew up—its walls lined with fading black-and-white photographs—Dharmendra spoke with the softness of a man reconnecting with his roots.

The visit stirred memories of his childhood, long before he became the “He-Man” of Indian cinema, at a time when life was marked not by fame but by deep family bonds and profound loss.

He revealed that he came from a family of six siblings—three brothers and three sisters. Though he cherished all of them, it was the loss of his elder brother Santosh, who passed away at just two years old, that became an early tragedy he never forgot.

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“Hum 6 bhai behen the, 3 bhai 3 behene, mujhse bada Santosh tha, jo bichara 2 saal ki umar mein guzar gaya,” he said gently. He remembered how, after his birth, his mother took him to her parents’ home, where his grandfather would often compare him to Santosh. “Bauji kehte the, Santosh bahut khoobsurat tha, yeh utna khoobsurat nahi hai,” he added with a bittersweet smile.

The pain deepened as he spoke of his younger brother Ajeet and his elder sister Surinder—affectionately known as Chindo. It was her loss, he said, that left a lifetime of ache. “Jisko hum pyaar se Chindo kehte hain, woh dukh main kabhi nahi bhoolunga,” he confessed, visibly moved even after so many years.

Dharmendra recalled the day she fell critically ill with typhoid, a disease that had limited treatment options back then. In desperation, he travelled to Phagwara to bring back a doctor relative who might save her. “Main Phagwara ek relative doctor ko lene gaya tha. Vaapas aaya toh dekha, toh guzar gayi,” he said, his voice trembling under the weight of the memory.

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Even in his later years, returning to that home brought back her presence so vividly that it felt almost real. “Ab main yahan jabhi aata hoon, aisa lagta hai ki woh abhi khadi hai aur keh rahi hai—Paaji, mujhe kuch nahi hua,” he shared, describing how her memory lingered like a gentle shadow in the rooms they once shared.

Dharmendra passed away in Mumbai on 24 November, at the age of 89.