Hema Malini & Dharmendra Movies Together List — 17 Films

The shape of the work

The 1970s belonged to Cinema Cinema; the 2010s to Tell Me O Kkhuda. Hema Malini acted in every film; Dharmendra acted in all of them.

Partnership facts

• They first met on the set of 'Alibaba Aur 40 Chor' (1979), but here's the twist — Dharmendra was already married to someone else when they fell for each other. Hema's mother was dead against the match. It took years of persuasion and a secret wedding in 1980 before they went public.
• On 'The Burning Train' (1980), Dharmendra insisted on doing his own stunts — including jumping from a moving train. Hema, terrified, would close her eyes during his takes. He later said her fear made him more careful, and she said his bravado pushed her to do action scenes she'd never attempted before.
• After their marriage, Hema and Dharmendra made a pact: they would never share a romantic scene with anyone else on screen. That's why in 'Samraat' (1982) and 'Raaj Tilak' (1984), their love scenes are only with each other — a rare Bollywood couple code.
• Hema once said in an interview: 'Dharamji would forget his lines if I was looking at him. I had to look away during our romantic scenes, otherwise he'd go blank.' She added that he'd then improvise silly dialogues to make her laugh, and those outtakes became the final takes in films like 'Aas Paas' (1981).
• Their real-life romance directly inspired the plot of 'Meharbaani' (1982) — the film's story of a married man falling for a younger woman mirrored their own scandal. The director, K. Bapaiah, admitted he wrote the script after hearing their love story from a mutual friend.
• On the sets of 'Shimla Mirchi' (2019), their last film together, Hema directed Dharmendra for the first time. She revealed that he kept calling her 'madam director' and refused to take her instructions seriously — until she threatened to cut his best scene. He then became her most disciplined actor.