Meet Sridevi's hero, one dialogue ruined his career, lost chance working with Sunny Deol and Salman Khan, left the country after changing his name to…

India.com

09-05-2025

If a novice actor gets the lead role opposite Sridevi in ​​his debut film, it is like a dream come true. Yash Chopra gave such an opportunity to a new actor in his memorable film 'Lamhe', who was a famous model of the 80s era. The big break made it seem that he would soon achieve stardom, but the exact opposite happened with him.
We are talking about Deepak Malhotra, who played the role of Sridevi's husband Siddharth Kumar in the film 'Lamhe', who was considered to be a rival of stars like Aamir Khan and Shahrukh Khan, but one of her dialogues in the film was ridiculed so much that she lost out on Sunny Deol's 'Darr', Salman Khan's 'Sooryavanshi', Rahul Roy's 'Junoon'.
Apart from Sridevi, Anil Kapoor, Anupam Kher and Waheeda Rehman also played important roles in the film 'Lamhe'. Sridevi's performance was highly praised, due to which the film won National Award and Filmfare Award, but neither the film nor Deepak Malhotra's acting did well at the box office.
Then why did Yash Chopra give Deepak Malhotra an important role in the film 'Lamhe'? Actually, he had emerged as a famous model in the late 80s. According to a Hindustan Times report, he was the face of the 'Vimal' brand and was also the most expensive model. He was charging Rs 1.5 lakh in 1987. It was during this period that Yash Chopra approached him.
Sridevi played a double role in the film 'Lamhe'. She was seen in the role of mother-daughter Pallavi and Pooja. Deepak Malhotra was shown as Pallavi's lover in the film, who later becomes her husband. The acting of the other stars in the film 'Lamhe' was praised, but Deepak Malhotra had to face criticism due to his poor screen presence. He proved to be a failure in acting.
Deepak Malhotra got so much bad press because of one of his scenes in which he is trying to wake up Sridevi, who is lying unconscious in bed, by calling her 'Pallo-Pallo'. Deepak's saying 'Pallo-Pallo' became a part of many memes and jokes among people. Today, many memes are made of that scene. Deepak got offers for films like 'Darr', 'Junoon' and 'Sooryavanshi', 'Bekhudi', but his acting in 'Lamhe' ruined everything. By 1993, he did not have a single film left.
Deepak Malhotra left the cinema that year and settled in America, where he got many modeling offers. Apart from 'Lamhe', he appeared in another film named 'Tejaswini'. Deepak went to New York and changed his name to 'Dino Martelli'. He has also studied engineering and modeling, and is currently running a business, and later got married to Lubna Adam.