A prayer meeting was organised by Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol in memory of their late father and veteran actor Dharmendra. However, what caught everyone’s attention was the absence of his second wife, Hema Malini, and their daughters, Esha Deol and Ahana Deol.
Their no-show raised eyebrows, especially since Hema held a separate prayer ceremony at her own residence to honour Dharmendra.
Hema Malini absent from Dharmendra prayer meet
On Thursday, the prayer meet was organised by Dharmendra’s first wife, Prakash Kaur, along with their sons Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol.
Throughout the prayer meet, neither Hema Malini nor her daughters were seen arriving at the venue. Instead, around the same time, a pandit was spotted entering Hema Malini’s residence.
Later several celebrities including Mahima Chaudhry, Sunita Ahuja and her son Yashvardhan, were seen coming to Hema Malini’s house. Esha Deol’s former husband Bharat Takhtani was also spotted outside Hema Malini’s residence for memorial.
Sunita later confirmed the news about Hema Malini hosting bhajan sandhya at her home while talking to Screen. Sunita said, “Hema ji had kept a path of Bhagavad Gita and bhajans. So, we all listened to the bhajans. I couldn’t stop crying in front of Hema ji.”
Hema is Dharmendra’s second wife, with the veteran actor having been previously married to Prakash Kaur. Prakash and Dharmendra married in 1954 with whom he had four children- Sunny, Bobby, Vijeta, and Ajeeta. Hema and Dharmendra have two daughters- Esha and Ahana.
On Thursday, Hema Malini took to social media to share an emotional tribute to her late husband. “Dharam ji… He was many things to me. Loving husband, adoring father of our two girls, Esha and Ahaana, Friend, Philosopher, Guide, Poet, my ‘go to’ person in all times of need — in fact, he was everything to me!” Hema Malini wrote on X.
About Dharmendra’s prayer meet
Dharmendra’s family hosted a prayer meet on Thursday at a hotel in Mumbai. Called Celebration of Life, the prayer meet saw the presence of Dharmendra’s first wife Prakash Kaur’s along with their children: Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol, Ajeeta and Vijeta as well as his grandsons Karan and Rajveer. Actor Abhay Deol was also with the family.
During the prayer meet, Sunny and Bobby appeared visibly emotional as they stood through the prayer meet, which began at 5:30 pm and concluded around 8 pm.
The prayer meeting was attended by several stars including Aishwarya Rai, Salman Khan, Madhuri Dixit, Vidya Balan, Shabana Azmi, Jackie Shroff, Sidharth Malhotra, Suniel Shetty, Ameesha Patel, Fardeen Khan, Nimrat Kaur, Sonu Sood, Anu Malik, Subhash Ghai, Abbas-Mastan, and Anil Sharma.
Dharmendra died at the age of 89 on November 24, days ahead of his 90th birthday on December 8. The actor was discharged from Mumbai’s Breach Candy Hospital earlier this month and was recuperating at home. He was cremated in Mumbai on November 25.
