Dharmendra's Poetic Tribute to His Childhood Sweetheart

Veteran Bollywood actor Dharmendra, 89, is making a full recovery after a recent health scare that had worried his fans. As of November 16, 2025, Dharmendra has returned home, with his wife Hema Malini expressing relief and gratitude.

While Dharmendra's love story with Hema Malini is one of Bollywood's most cherished tales, the actor has now revealed that his first brush with love happened long before he met his wife. Growing up in a small Punjabi village before the 1947 Partition, a young Dharmendra fell for a girl named Hamida, the daughter of his schoolteacher. Though they were just students at the time, with Hamida in class eight and Dharmendra in class six, the shy boy would steal glances at her and wish he could sit by her side.

Dharmendra never expressed his feelings to Hamida, but he immortalized his innocent love in a poem that he wrote during his student days. When his son Bobby Deol mentioned the poem on a TV show, Dharmendra recited the heartfelt verses, reminiscing about the sweet confusion of their interactions. Tragically, when Partition struck in 1947, Hamida and her family moved to Pakistan, while Dharmendra's family remained in India, and the two never met again. But the memories of his first love have stayed with the veteran actor forever.