One of the longest lasting couples in Bollywood is Hema Malini and Dharmendra. When Dharmendra got married and had four kids in 1980, they got married and started living an unconventional life. Hema said that she takes life as it comes, and cannot complain about anything. She was told during the interview that she had, in a way, become a feminist icon because of her choice to live apart from Dharmendra and raise their two daughters. Hema emphasised that Dharmendra ‘has always been there’ for them, despite their unusual living arrangement.
She said, “Nobody wants to be like that; it happens. Automatically, what happens, you have to accept. Otherwise nobody will feel like they want to live their life like this. Every woman wants to have a husband, children, like a normal family. But somewhere, it went out of the way… I am not feeling bad about it, or sulking about it. I am happy with myself. I have my two children, and I have brought them up very well.”
Hema Malini said that she has long been a follower of a ‘guru ma’, who guided her not only in her career, but at pivotal personal junctures such as this. The actor said that she is thankful that Dharmendra was ‘always there’ for their children. “Actually he was worried, ‘shaadi hona chaiye bachchon ka jaldi.’ I said ‘Hoga.’ When the time is right, the right person will come around. With the blessings of god and guru ma, everything happened.”
In 1980, Hema and Dharmendra got married. At the time, Dharmendra was already wed to Prakash Kaur, with whom he has four kids: daughters Ajeeta and Vijeta, boys Sunny and Bobby. He has two daughters, Esha and Ahana, with Hema.