Hindi
Dharmendra Singh Deol: Hindi cinema’s eternal Hero bows out
MUMBAI: The guns blazed, the villains flew, and somewhere in the dust cloud stood Dharmendra—jaw set, shirt torn, still immaculate. In six decades on screen, he built a mythology around himself: the last of Hindi cinema’s homegrown he-men, a matinee idol who could charm mothers, daughters and box-office accountants with equal ease. He died in Mumbai on 24 November, aged 89, leaving behind a filmography bursting with action, romance, comedy, and sheer, unembarrassed star power.
Born in 1935 in Sahnewal, a small Punjab village, Dharmendra Kewal Krishan Deol grew up far from the glamour he would eventually embody. His father was a schoolteacher; his mother ran the home. Cinema arrived in his life through single-screen theatres in Phagwara, where he studied. He watched Hollywood westerns, Bollywood tearjerkers, anything he could afford. He dreamt of celluloid long before he understood the harsh arithmetic of fame.
Bombay—gritty, smoggy, merciless—tested him. After winning a Filmfare talent contest at 23, he waited for the promised debut that never materialised. Instead, he spent days knocking on producers’ doors and nights rehearsing expressions in the mirror of a cramped paying guest room. His portfolio photographs frayed from overuse. The hunger was literal as well as metaphorical.
When success finally arrived, it came in a rush. Phool Aur Patthar in 1966 catapulted him from near-obscurity to stardom. He played the outlaw with a wounded heart—tough enough to intimidate, tender enough to adore. Audiences queued for hours; producers queued longer. He repeated the formula in dozens of films, from Anupama to Yaadon Ki Baaraat, carving out a niche between the romantic heroes of the 1960s and the angry young men of the 1970s. Dharmendra managed to be both: a lover with broad shoulders and a fighter with soft eyes.
But 1975 sealed his legend. In Chupke Chupke, he swapped guns for gags, proving he could deliver dry wit with professorial charm. Months later came Sholay, the film that would define a generation and cement his place in the cinematic pantheon. As Veeru, he jumped off water towers, cracked jokes, flirted with Hema Malini and shot down dacoits—often all at once. Off-screen, he fell for Malini, courting controversy and reshaping his personal life. India watched with equal parts fascination and judgement; he soldiered on.
His superstardom stretched across the 1980s, fuelled by relentless work. Some films were hits, others forgettable, but his appeal endured. The 1990s brought a shift as the Khans dominated Bollywood. Dharmendra stepped back without bitterness, turning producer and helping Sunny and Bobby carve out their own space. In Apne (2007), the three generations of Deols punched and wept together, reminding audiences why they adored the family in the first place.
Awards eventually followed: the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement in 1997, the Padma Bhushan in 2012. Still, he wore them lightly. Praise flustered him; adoration embarrassed him. Politics, which he reluctantly dabbled in between 2004 and 2009, bored him. Stardom never did.
Age crept in—back trouble, frailty, hospital stays. Yet he continued to act, still chasing the lights that once chased him. Even in his last notable appearance, in 2024’s Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya, the spark was intact. Another film, Ikkis, will now release without him to promote it.
At his beloved Lonavala farmhouse, he planted trees, fed cattle, and took long walks—“the village boy inside me,” he’d say. Fame had not hardened him. He remained sentimental, occasionally grumbly, mostly grateful. When he lamented in 2023 that Bollywood had overlooked the Deols’ contribution, it was unusual precisely because he so rarely complained.
Dharmendra leaves behind a complicated, sprawling legacy: three generations of stars, a treasury of films, and millions of fans who believed—truly believed—that their hero could never be knocked down for good.
But even he could not fight time. And so the eternal hero exits, leaving behind the echo of punches, laughter, and that impossibly charming smile. India will miss him. Indian cinema will miss him. Screens will miss him.
A nation raised on his movies will remember one thing above all: he made heroism look easy.
Hindi
GUEST COLUMN: Why film libraries & IPs are the new engines of growth
Unlocking value through catalogue strength and IP synergy
MUMBAI:In a media landscape defined by fragmentation, platform proliferation, and ever-evolving audience behavior, the economics of filmmaking are undergoing a fundamental shift. No longer confined to box office performance, a film’s true value is now measured across an extended lifecycle that spans digital platforms, syndication networks, and global markets. As content consumption becomes increasingly non-linear and algorithm-driven, film libraries and intellectual properties (IPs) are emerging as strategic assets, capable of delivering sustained, long-term returns. For Mohan Gopinath, head – bollywood business at Shemaroo Entertainment Ltd., this transformation signals a decisive move from hit-driven models to portfolio-led value creation. In this piece, Gopinath explores how legacy content, when intelligently repurposed and distributed, can unlock recurring revenue streams, why the interplay between catalogue and original IP is critical, and how media companies can build resilient, future-ready entertainment businesses.
For all these years, we thought that a film is successful if it performs well in theatres. There are opening weekend numbers, box office milestones, and distribution footprints that gave a good picture of how the movie has done commercially and also tell us about its cultural impact. However, there are multiple platforms today, always-on content ecosystem, which has caused a shift. Today, the theatrical performance is not the culmination of a film’s journey but merely the beginning of a much longer and more dynamic lifecycle.
Film libraries today are emerging as high-value, constantly evolving assets that deliver sustained returns well beyond initial release cycles. This becomes a point of great advantage for legacy content owners with diverse catalogues, to shape long-term business outcomes.
According to FICCI-EY, the media and entertainment industry of India achieved a valuation of Rs 2.78 trillion in 2025 which is expected to reach Rs 3.3 trillion by 2028 through a compound annual growth rate of approximately 7 per cent and digital media will bring in more than Rs 1 trillion to become the biggest sector which generates about 36 per cent of overall market revenues.
This shift is the expansion of distribution endpoints. We know how satellite television was once the primary secondary window but today, it coexists with YouTube, OTT platforms, Connected TV, and FAST channels. Each of these platforms caters to distinct audience demographics and consumption behaviors, helping content owners to obtain more value from the same asset across multiple formats.
For instance, films that had great reruns, now find continuous engagement across digital platforms. On YouTube, classic Hindi cinema continues to attract significant viewership, reaching audiences across generations and geographies with remarkable consistency. At Shemaroo Entertainment, this is reflected in our film library shaped over decades as part of a long association with Indian entertainment. From classics such as Amar Akbar Anthony to much-loved entertainers like Jab We Met, Welcome, Dhamaal, Phir Hera Pheri, Dhol, Golmaal, and Bhagam Bhag, many of these titles continue finding new audiences while retaining their place in popular memory. Their enduring appeal reflects how culturally resonant stories can continue creating value over time. Similarly, FAST channels have created curated, always-on environments where catalogue content can continue to thrive through star-led and genre-based programming.
This multi-platform approach has very well transformed films into long-tail IP assets which are capable of generating recurring revenue across advertising, subscription, and syndication models.
The evolution of audience behavior is equally important. Nowadays, it’s more important to find what’s more relative than what’s recent as viewers are more influenced by mood, memories, and algorithmic suggestions than by release schedules. Even if a movie was released decades ago, it can trend alongside a newly released movie, if surfaced in the right context. Thoughtful packaging, whether through festival-based playlists, actor-driven collections, or genre clusters, allows catalogue content to remain dynamic and continuously discoverable. Shemaroo Entertainment has built extensive film libraries over decades and its focus has mostly been on recontextualizing content for the consumption of newer environments. This process doesn’t just include digitization and restoration, but also re-packaging of films as per platforms.
Syndication itself has evolved into a key growth driver. In perspective, when looking at the domestic market, curated content packages continue to find strong demand across broadcast and digital platforms. Meanwhile, in the international market, especially in markets like Middle East, North America and Southeast Asia, the appetite for Indian content is opening up new monetization avenues. Here, the ability to package and position catalogue content effectively becomes as important as the content itself.
Importantly, the need to re-package catalogue content does not diminish the role of new content. In fact, originals and fresh IP are essential to sustaining the long-term value of a film library because they act as discovery engines that bring audiences into the ecosystem, while catalogue content drives depth, retention, and repeat engagement.
This interplay between the “new” and the “known” is what defines a robust content strategy today. While new films generate spikes in consumption, catalogue titles offer familiarity and comfort. These are factors that are increasingly valuable in an era of content abundance and decision fatigue. This is also shaping our strategy, drawing value from both a deep catalogue assets and a growing focus on original IPs to strengthen long-term audience engagement and build more predictable revenue streams.
There is growing recognition that long-term value in entertainment will be shaped not only by how intelligently existing content continues to live, travel and find relevance, but also by how consistently new stories are created to renew that ecosystem. In that sense, film libraries and original IP are not parallel bets, but reinforcing engines of growth. For media companies, the opportunity lies in making these two forces work together, because that is increasingly where more resilient and predictable businesses are being shaped.
Note: The views expressed in this article are solely the author’s and do not necessarily reflect our own.
