Before Meena Kumari or Hema Malini, Dharmendra's heart belonged to someone else: A tale of innocent love lost to 1947 India- Pakistan partition

Time of India

25-04-2025

Before
Dharmendra
became Bollywood's macho man and heartthrob of millions, he was just a shy schoolboy nursing a silent crush. And no, it wasn't
Meena Kumari
or
Hema Malini
who first stole his heart. It was a girl named
Hamida
— a name not found in gossip columns or film magazines, but one that left a lasting impression on the young Dharam Singh Deol.
This forgotten tale of love came to light when the veteran actor appeared on the show
Dus Ka Dum
. Amidst the glitz and glamour, Dharmendra took a nostalgic detour into his childhood and opened up about his first-ever love story, one that began in the narrow lanes of Punjab and ended with the painful Partition of 1947.
Hamida was no film star. She was his senior in school and the daughter of one of his teachers. Their interactions were innocent — she helped him with his studies, he handed over his notebook with trembling hands, and in those fleeting moments, a bond began to form. For Dharmendra, she was the embodiment of grace and charm, someone who unknowingly taught him the meaning of first love.
In true filmy style, Dharmendra once proposed to Hamida with a heartfelt shayari, a poetic confession of love. Though he didn't share the exact couplet, the twinkle in his eye and softness in his voice spoke volumes about what she meant to him. But fate, as dramatic as any Bollywood script, had other plans.
The Partition turned his love story into a memory. Hamida and her family moved to Pakistan, leaving behind a heartbroken Dharmendra. He never saw her again, but her memory stayed with him — untouched by time, wrapped in nostalgia.
Over the years, Dharmendra would go on to become a superstar, romancing leading ladies on-screen and making headlines for his relationships off it — especially his marriages to Prakash Kaur and later, Hema Malini. Yet, Hamida's name remains special, not because she was a celebrity, but because she was his first love — pure, unspoken, and unforgettable.
In a world obsessed with starry romances, this lesser-known story reminds us that even legends have a soft, sentimental side — and sometimes, their greatest love stories are the ones that never made it to the big screen.
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