Dharmendra was still a college student at the time and later realized his recklessness.
Dharmendra and Dilip Kumar in their youth.
Veteran actor Dharmendra had an immense fondness for Dilip Kumar. Such was his love for the actor that he was convinced that they were brothers. While Dharmendra and Dilip Kumar are not related, a college-going Dharmendra thought they were siblings; during his trip to Mumbai, he was so determined to meet the late actor that he even broke into his house.
In Dilip Kumar’s autobiography, Dilip Kumar: The Substance and the Shadow, Dharmendra recalled, “For some inexplicable reason I began to fancy that Dilip Kumar and I were siblings.” During his trip to Bombay, Dharmendra went to Dilip Kumar’s bungalow and since there was no security at his gate, he let himself in.
“I wasn’t stopped at the gate by anybody, and so I walked right into the house through the main door. There was a wooden staircase leading to a bedroom upstairs. Again, nobody stopped me, so I climbed up the stairs and stood at the entrance to one of the rooms,” he shared. Dharmendra recalled seeing a “fair, slim, handsome” Dilip Kumar sleeping on the couch. Dilip Kumar “woke up somewhat startled” when he sensed Dharmendra’s presence.
“He sat up and stared at me, quite taken aback to see a total stranger standing gingerly at his bedroom door gazing admiringly at him. As for me, I couldn’t believe my eyes: It was Dilip Kumar, my idol, in front of me. He called out to a servant loudly. Now scared, I ran down the staircase and bolted out of the house looking behind to see if I was being followed,” he shared.
“I realised how reckless I had been by intruding into the privacy of a star. So what if there was no watchman at the gate and no family member in the house to stop me?” he wrote. However, years later Dharmendra got a chance to meet Dilip Kumar after winning a talent competition and meeting Dilip Kumar’s sister. “I saw her leaving and I ran after her requesting her to [arrange to] meet Dilip Sahab. I told her I firmly believed that he was my brother too,” he said.
“When I was leaving, he (Dilip Kumar) took me upstairs to his room and gave me a sweater from his cupboard because it was a bit chilly and he had noticed I was wearing just a thin cotton shirt. He hugged me and saw me off at the gate. I can still feel the warmth of that hug because it was genuine,” Dharmendra concluded.
