He never forgot his roots, say kin in Punjab

As news broke of Bollywood legend Dharmendra's passing at 89 at his residence in Mumbai on Monday afternoon, residents of his native village, Dangon and nearby Sahnewal town where he grew up in Ludhiana district of Punjab, remembered a son of the soil who is still loved in the region.

- Tarsem Singh Deogan

Dharmendra’s bond with Punjab and its people was of a kind that meant that generations — across the social and income spectrum — considered him family, not a larger-than-life film star. Everyone in Sahnewal town knows the rented house where Dharmendra, the son of school teacher Kewal Krishan Deol, spent his childhood, and although ithas since been sold and renovated, it is still called Dharmendra’s house. “Everyone here knows the way to Dhar-mendra ji’s house. We may be its owners now, but even we call it Dharmen-dra Bhaji’s house,” says Honey Singh.

The house originally belonged to Master Ramji Das, who was also a teacher and friend of Dharmendra’s father. “Kewal Krishan ji was transferred here from Lalton Kalan, a village in Ludhiana. The actor's ancestral village is Dangon. The staff at the Government Primary School where his father taughtis still known as Dharmendra’s father's school,” Honey Singh added.