Veteran actors Dharmendra and Shatrughan Sinha have shared a friendship that has outlived decades, and a story from their early days resurfaced recently as Sinha recalled a moment that perfectly captured their bond. The incident, narrated during their joint appearance on The Kapil Sharma Show, has regained attention amid renewed public concern for Dharmendra’s health.
Sinha spoke about the time he was expected to shoot his first dance number, Shor Mach Gaya Shor, a sequence that was being filmed publicly in front of thousands. The pressure rattled him. “My first song was to be shot publicly. It was Shor Mach Gaya Shor, and I was very nervous. I had never danced in front of an audience before, and when the shooting started, thousands had gathered. I didn’t know what to do,” he recalled. Completely unsure of how to perform in front of such a massive crowd, he went to the one senior he trusted most on that set: Dharmendra.
“I went to our elder brother Dharmendra and said, Please tell me how to do this. I can’t do it. How did you perform your own song Rafta Rafta?” Sinha said. What he received in return was classic Dharmendra mischief, the kind of affectionate teasing only an elder colleague could get away with. “He told me, Just do what I did. I asked him, What did you do? and he said, Just drink a little,” Sinha laughed, remembering how both men burst into laughter at the suggestion. The anecdote has long been popular among fans because it captures two things people admire about Dharmendra: his warmth and his wicked sense of humour.
The actors went on to collaborate several times after Sinha’s debut in Pyar Hi Pyar. Their pairing appeared in films such as Vijay Anand’s Blackmail and the 1988 action-driven drama Zalzala. Years later, Sinha even made a cameo appearance in Dharmendra’s family entertainer Yamla Pagla Deewana: Phir Se, a quiet nod to a partnership that had begun decades earlier and never quite faded.
The memory resurfaced at a time when fans have been anxious about Dharmendra’s health. The 88-year-old actor had been hospitalised earlier this month following a sudden decline in his condition. After undergoing treatment for several days at Breach Candy Hospital, he was discharged on November 12. His family has since chosen to continue his care at home.
In the midst of this, Shatrughan Sinha and his wife Poonam Sinha visited Hema Malini to enquire about Dharmendra’s health. The actor shared photos from the visit on X, describing the meeting with characteristic affection. “Along with my bestest half @PoonamSinha, went to meet, greet & God bless our very dear family friend, one of the finest human beings, star/actress par excellence, artist of the highest calibre, an able Parliamentarian @dreamgirlhema,” he wrote.
The visit came shortly after Sunny Deol’s team issued a formal statement urging the public to exercise restraint and respect the family’s privacy. The message appealed to fans who had been flooding social media with speculation and unverified updates. “Mr. Dharmendra has been discharged from the hospital and will continue his recovery at home. We kindly request the media and the public to refrain from any further speculation and to respect his and the family’s privacy during this time. We appreciate everyone’s love, prayers, and good wishes for his continued recovery, good health, and long life. Please respect him because he loves you,” the statement read.
For fans of Hindi cinema’s golden era, the renewed interest in Dharmendra and Sinha’s shared memories seems inevitable. They are among the last standing icons from a generation that shaped the industry’s identity. Stories like the Rafta Rafta advice aren’t just nostalgia. They serve as reminders of a simpler, looser time in the industry, when veterans soothed younger actors’ anxieties with jokes and presence instead of workshops and training routines.
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