Amitabh Bachchan remembers his friend Dharmendra: ‘A vacuum that shall ever remain vacuus’
Amitabh and Dharmendra first acted together in ‘Dost’ (1974) followed by two memorable hits in 1975, like ‘Chupke Chupke’ & ‘Sholay’
It was Amitabh Bachchan who revealed at a film award ceremony that Dharmendra was the one who had recommended his name to director Ramesh Sippy for the iconic ‘Sholay’. What followed was the legendary on-screen friendship of Jai (Amitabh) and Veeru (Dharmendra), a bond that became a part of Indian cinema’s history. This year, as ‘Sholay’ completes 50 years and its restored 4K version readies to return to theatres across India on December 12, 2025, destiny has taken a heartbreaking turn. Dharmendra, the man Amitabh often described as a ‘wonderful human being and friend’, passed away on Monday at the age of 89, just days short of his 90th birthday (December 8) and the film’s grand re-release.
Amitabh rushed to the cremation ground on Monday, accompanied by his son Abhishek and grandson Agastya Nanda, who stars alongside Dharmendra in the veteran actor’s final film, ‘Ikkis’, set to release on December 25. On Tuesday, Amitabh shared an emotional tribute on social media, remembering his dear friend and co-star.
“Another valiant Giant has left us, left the arena, leaving behind a silence with an unbearable sound,” Amitabh wrote in his blog.
He described Dharmendra as ‘the epitome of greatness, ever linked not only for his renowned physical presence, but for the largeness of his heart and its most endearing simplicity’. “He brought with him the earthiness of the village in Punjab he came from and remained true to its temperament, unsoiled throughout his glorious career, in a fraternity that witnessed changes every decade. The fraternity underwent changes, not him. His smile, his charm and his warmth, extending to all that came in his vicinity, a rarity in the profession,” Amitabh wrote about his friend Veeru in his blog. In the end, Amitabh wrote how ‘the air about us swings vacant, a vacuum that shall ever remain vacuus’.
Amitabh and Dharmendra first acted together in ‘Dost’ (1974), followed by two memorable hits in 1975 like ‘Chupke Chupke’ and ‘Sholay’. Their onscreen partnership continued in films like ‘Naseeb’, ‘Ram Balram’ and ‘Hum Kaun Hain’.
