In the tranquil coastal town of Tirur in Kerala’s Malappuram district, 63-year-old Saifullah Cholakkal has turned his living room into a personal shrine: each frame a memory of moments shared with Bollywood’s ‘He-Man’ Dharmendra.
For over two decades, their bond has been more than that of a devoted fan and his idol. Whenever his schedule allowed, Saifullah would travel to Dharmendra’s Juhu home in Mumbai, and the two would chat on the phone roughly once every two weeks.
Their conversations, a blend of cinema anecdotes and personal advice, had become a treasured routine that brightened Saifullah’s daily life. With Dharmendra’s death just days ago, Saifullah now grapples with the sudden silence, haunted by the echo of that husky voice that will never greet him again.
Dharmendra’s autographed photograph with Saifullah
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For Saifullah, a retired Philips employee, Dharmendra embodied the ultimate ‘He-man’, “the epitome of everything a man should be.” He feels extraordinarily lucky to have turned a screen idol he adored into a friend he affectionately called ‘Bhaiyya’.
Saifullah met Dharmendra at his Juhu home a dozen-odd times. To his family, the Bollywood hero was as approachable as the neighbour next door.
“I could not contact him in his final months of failing health. I terribly miss the man who was the biggest motivation of my life,” says Saifullah.
He would cherish forever not only the memories of their meetings but also the way the Sholay star loved him. “I was incredibly lucky to have been loved by him,” he said.
Saifullah with his idol-friend Dharmendra during one of his visits to his Juhu home.
During the 2018 Kerala floods, Dharmendra called Saifullah and offered him a place at his sprawling farmhouse in Lonavala. “He was such a down-to-earth person who could relate to an ordinary man like me. He had a golden heart,” Saifullah says, recalling how the star’s kindness shone through in that moment.
Born and raised in Malaysia until 18, Saifullah has watched every Dharmendra film, starting with Jab Yaad Kisi Ki Aati Hai. “Dharamjee’s smile and everything he represented made him my role model.”
First meeting
Running his fingers over dozens of Dharmendra’s autographed photos, Saifullah recalls his first meeting with the star in 2003. In 2001, a group of Mumbai impresarios approached him about sponsoring a Kochi programme. “I demanded my hero’s contact number as quid pro quo, and finally I got it.”
Dharmendra with Saifullah
“When I called, I could not believe that it was Dharmajee’s deep, husky voice on the other end,” Saifullah recalls, his hands trembling as the words left his lips. “He actually calmed me.”
During their maiden conversation, Saifullah described the exact colours of the star’s outfits in five Mohammed Rafi songs he enacted, including Aaj mausam bada beimaan hai… from Loafer. Dharmendra laughed, called him “a paagal aadmi,” and, charmed by the fan’s fervour, invited him to his home.
“When I visited him a few weeks later, I hugged him and was trembling,” Saifullah recalled. “He told me to relax, saying he could feel the vibrations of my love.” Saifullah said that the lassi Dharmendra served on that first visit was the best he had ever tasted.
Dharmendra with Saifullah
Their friendship spanned more than two decades, marked by occasional visits, frequent phone calls, and birthday or Eid greetings from the star. Saifullah also met Dharmendra’s sons, Sunny and Bobby, and got dozens of photographs with his idol.
When Saifullah’s father died, Dharmendra called to comfort him and said in Hindi: “Jab waleed ka saya hamaare sir se ud jaata hai, to hamein pata chal jaayega ki uski kya ahmiyath hai,” (when a father’s shadow lifts from us, we discover how valuable and what his importance was)
Saifullah’s most-prized items are 150 DVDs of Dharmendra’s films. “Studying them, I saw beyond the action hero,” he says. “In movies such as Bandini, Anupama, Satyakam, Dillagi and Chupke Chupke, I discovered a gentle nuanced actor.”
Published – November 28, 2025 12:38 pm IST
