Legendary actor Dharmendra passed away on November 24 in Mumbai after he was hospitalised for a few days. The actor passed away at the age of 89, just days before his 90th birthday. The actor’s 90th birth anniversary is on December 8, which is Monday. Salman Khan was extremely close to Dharmendra and had immense love for him. As the actor hosted the finale of ‘Bigg Boss 19‘ on Sunday, he got deeply emotional as he remembered the veteran actor. He said that Dharmendra has appeared on every season of the show, except for this one. A clip encapsulating Dharmendra’s moments with Salman was played and that made the actor emotional. Talking about him, Salman said, “I don’t think Dharam ji se better koi aadmi hai. Unhone apni life khul ke jee hai. He gave us 60 years of entertainment. He gave us Sunny, Bobby, Esha. Jis vakt se unhone industry join ki hai aur aakhri waqt tak unko bas accha kaam karna hai. Unhone comedy ki hai, drama ki hai emotions kiya hai.” Salman revealed that as he started out his career, he has only followed Dharmendra’s career graph. He said, “I’ve only followed my career graph as Dharam ji. Nobody else but Dharam ji. Woh ek masoom chehra leke aaye aur he-man ki body. He had a charming face, which he always had till his death. Love you Dharam ji always miss you.” Talking about his connection with Dharmendra, Salman couldn’t control his tears as he said, “He passed away on the November 24 which is my father’s birthday. Tomorrow is December 8, Dharamji’s birthday and my mother’s birthday. So, Dharamji’s birthday is with my mother’s birthday and he passed away on my father’s birthday. If I’m feeling like this, I don’t know how Sunny, Bobby, Prakash aunty, hema ji, Esha, Ahana must be feeling,” he said wiping his tears. The ‘Dabangg’ actor also spoke about Dharmendra’s prayer meet. He revealed that there were two prayer meets who were done in the most graceful, dignified manner – one was of Sooraj Barjatya’s mother and the other of Dharmendra. “There were funerals which got the most respect. Their prayer meeting was conducted with so much of dignity, honour. Ro toh sab hi rahe the but ek joh respect honi chahiye. Ek celebration of life honi chahiye. Hats of to Sunny, Bobby and whole family. Every ceremony, funeral should be conducted in this dignified manner.” As per reports, Dharmendra’s birth anniversary is going to be celebrated at his farmhouse on December 8 by Sunny, Bobby and the family. His fans are also invited. Dharmendra’s last onscreen appearance will be in Sriram Raghavan’s ‘Ikkis’ set to release this month.
