Starstruck Dharmendra snuck into idol Dilip Kumar's home 6 years before his debut: ‘Began to fancy we were siblings’

Dharmendra passed away at the age of 89 on November 24. The veteran actor often spoke of his fondness for Dilip Kumar and once snuck into his home too.

Much before he won the Filmfare talent contest to launch his foray into the film world, Dharmendra visited Bombay, boldly went to his idol Dilip Kumar's house, walked in and reached right up to his bedroom only to run away after the thespian woke up to find a stranger in his home. Dharmendra, the iconic star who carved out a 65-year career in Indian cinema, spanning over 300 films, passed away in Mumbai on Monday at the age of 89. (Also Read: Dharmendra passes away live updates here)

Dharmendra has always been a massive fan of Dilip Kumar and has often spoken of his fondness for him.

When Dharmendra snuck into Dilip Kumar's home

The interesting anecdote from sometime in 1952 is discussed in detail by Dharmendra himself in the Reminiscences section of Dilip Kumar's autobiography, The Substance and the Shadow.

"Sometime in 1952, when I was in my second year of college, I travelled to Bombay from the small town of Ludhiana, in Punjab, where we lived. I had no definite plans of becoming an actor back then, but I definitely wanted to meet Dilip Kumar, whose acting in Shaheed had touched a deep emotional chord within me. For some inexplicable reason, I began to fancy that Dilip Kumar and I were siblings," Dharmendra said.

"The very next day I reached Bombay, I boldly went to his house in Bandra's Pali Mala locality to meet him. I wasn't stopped at the gate by anybody, and so I walked right into the house through the main door. There was a wooden staircase leading to a bedroom upstairs. Again, nobody stopped me, so I climbed up the stairs and stood at the entrance to one of the rooms," he said in his reminiscences.

How did Dilip Kumar react

Dharmendra recalled that a fair, slim, handsome youth was asleep on a couch. Dilip must have sensed someone's presence and suddenly woke up, somewhat startled, he said.

"I stood still, not knowing what to do. He sat up on the couch and stared at me, quite taken aback to see a total stranger standing gingerly at his bedroom door, gazing admiringly at him," Dharmendra said.

"As for me, I couldn't believe my eyes: It was Dilip Kumar, my idol, in front of me. He called out to a servant loudly. Now scared, I ran down the staircase and bolted out of the house, looking behind to see if I was being followed," he said.

Dharmendra said that when he reached a cafeteria, he went inside and asked for a cold lassi. "As I sat in the cafeteria and thought back to what I had done, I realised how reckless I had been by intruding into the privacy of a star. So what if there was no watchman at the gate and no family member in the house to stop me?" he recalled.

In the villages of Punjab, the houses were always open to anyone who cared to drop in, Dharmendra said, adding that there was a strong bond among the people with no barriers, and one could just walk into a house without any formalities and be welcome at any time of the day or night.

"I was very happy to see my idol living just the way we lived in Punjab. But then, I had blundered by taking it for granted that I did not need an introduction. This was Bombay, the big city, and the house belonged to the star Dilip Kumar!" he said.

When Dharmendra eventually met Dilip Kumar

In his autobiography, Dharmendra also recalled that six years after this incident, he returned to then-Bombay to participate in the United Producers and Filmfare Talent Contest.

When he did eventually meet Dileep Kumar, with the help of his sister Farida, Dharmendra recalled that he was called over to their bungalow, 48 Pali Hill, at 8.30 pm and "time stood still" for him when "Dilip Sahab" came out and welcomed him and gave him a chair to sit beside him on the lawns.

The Pali Hill house was not the same one which Dharmendra had intruded years earlier. "He (Dilip Kumar) talked to me like an elder brother, full of love and concern and narrated how he became an actor and how difficult it was for him in the beginning to understand the demands of the profession since he came from a non-filmi background," Dharmendra said.

The actor recalled that he was spellbound as he listened to Dilip speak in English, Punjabi, and Urdu, his voice soft and refined. "I just could not believe that I was actually sitting next to him and he was talking to me," he said.

When Dharmendra was leaving, Dilip took him upstairs to his room and gave him a sweater from his cupboard because it was a bit chilly, and he had noticed that he was wearing just a thin cotton shirt. "He (Dilip Kumar) hugged me and saw me off at the gate. I can still feel the warmth of that hug because it was genuine," Dharmendra said.

The actor said he met Dilip on many occasions thereafter, and it was always the thespian who came towards him and held his hand because he never took the liberty of going up to him as an equal. "I may not meet him (Dilip) for months, but I think of him every day because his photograph is the only photograph I have kept in my house beside the photographs of my parents and of my sons," Dharmendra said.

With inputs from PTI