His nears and dears are in Celebration Mode today—Dharmendra’s 90^th birthday. Because though God called him so that he can spread his brand of deep love even in Heaven, in this world he is still living in everyone’s hearts. And so, the word “birth anniversary” does not apply: it is still his birthday.

On this day, therefore, we must look at his special attributes.

• His breakthrough film, Phool Aur Patthar (1966) was the biggest hit of 1966, a Golden Jubilee (his first) and it became famous for Dharmendra’s ‘shirtless’ appearance. He had a record number of Golden Jubilees (50-week runners in theatres) since—Ankhen, Shikar, Mera Gaon Mera Desh, Jeevan Mrityu, Jugnu, Yaadon Ki Baraat, Sholay, Dharam-Veer, Aag Hi Aag and Hukumat. As producer, he also had Ghayal and Barsaat.
• The actual film in which he removed his shirt on screen for the first time was for a scene in the 1961 Shola Aur Shabnam (1961). The film was Dharmendra’s first hit, but the time had not yet come to define his image as a toughie.
• After Phool Aur Patthar, his next superhit was the 1966 Christmas release, Aaye Din Bahaar Ke. This was the first of his 60-plus films (accounting for more than a fifth of his near-300 films) with composers Laxmikant-Pyarelal.

• This was also his first film with Asha Parekh. All his five films with her were hits, and Shikar (1968) and Mera Gaon Mera Desh (1971) were Golden Jubilees and super-hits. Aaya Sawan Jhoom Ke (1969) and his home production, Samadhi (1972) were hits. Asha’s record with him was thus 100 percent.
• Devar was the first of his eight films with Sharmila Tagore. The others were Anupama (one of his most underrated performances), Mere Humdum Mere Dost (1968), Yakeen (1969) and his home production, Satyakam (1970), followed by Chupke Chupke, Ek Mahal Ho Sapnon Ka and Sunny(1984), in which he made a cameo appearance.
• Devar was also the first of about 70 films with lyricist Anand Bakshi.
• Pre-Hema Malini (their association began with two super-hits, Sharafat and Tum Haseen Main Jawanin 1970), Asha and Sharmila were his most popular co-stars, apart from Meena Kumari.
• In 1968, Dharmendra did his first film shot abroad—Ankhen, a spy drama. The film became the biggest hit of 1968, as Phool Aur Patthar had been in 1966. Coincidentally, both films had music by Ravi, but no song lip-synched by Dharmendra.
• Seeta Aur Geeta was the biggest hit of 1972, Sholay of 1975 and Hukumat (1987—a solo hit at the age of 52!) were the biggest hits of those respective years.
• Ankhen and Shikar consolidated Dharmendra’s tough image after Phool Aur Patthar. In 1979, Dharmendra played a dual role (as an Indian espionage agent again and his enemy impostor). 
• Dharmendra did several dual roles apart from in Yakeen. They included Izzat, Samadhi, Jhutha Sachand his most unusual one—Ghazab, in which one role was of a ghost who was physically challenged!
• Jeevan Mrityu (1970) marked Dharmendra’s first vendetta drama. It was also his first film to be dubbed in Malayalam, and thus Yesudas, who subsequently sang for him in Swami, lent his voice to the megastar for the first time.
• Dharmendra bluntly stated to me that Sholay was inspired largely by Mera Gaon Mera Desh apart from its foreign inspirations.
• The Dharmendra-Hema Malini team has romanced in 32 films, accounting for more than a tenth of his total releases! These include his home production Pratiggya and her home production, Do Disayen.
• Dharmendra had a long association with Hrishikesh Mukherjee through Anupama, Majhli Didi, Satyakam, Guddi, Chupke Chupke, Chaitali and Lathi. The director also edited his films Ghar Ka Chirag, Yakeen, Mere Humdum Mere Dost, Pyar Hi Pyar, Phagun and Professor Pyarelal.
• Raakhee and Jaya Bhaduri (Bachchan) were two major heroines who debuted opposite him. Both were Bengalis.
• In a quirky trivia, Dharmendra’s name in the suspense drama, Baharon Ki Manzil (1968) was Dr. Rajesh Khanna!
• Dharmendra co-starred with Dilip Kumar in the 1969 film, Paari, in Bengali. After the film did well, it was remade as Anokha Milan in 1972 with the same cast but did not do well.
• The actor had a record number of big-budget movies announced that were never made or completed. They included Vijay Anand’s Ek Do Teen Char, O.P. Ralhan’s Samson and Delilah and Manmohan Desai’s Ghazab.
• In his long tenure of 65 years, he worked with Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand and Raj Kapoor, all the three Kapoor brothers (Raj, Shammi and Shashi), all the three sons of Raj Kapoor (Randhir, Rishi, Rajiv), couples Dilip-Saira Banu, Randhir Kapoor-Babita, Rishi Kapoor-Neetu Singh, Amitabh-Jaya Bachchan, Raj Babbar-Smita Patil and also fathers and sons Sunil Dutt-Sanjay Dutt, Rajendra Kumar-Kumar Gaurav, actress-daughters Sinha-Pratibha and Tanuja-Kajol. He introduced Twinkle Khanna in his production Barsaat and worked with Akshay Kumar. His last film, Ikkis, stars Amitabh’s grandson Agastya Nanda, who is Raj Kapoor’s great-grandson!
• From his own family, he worked with Hema, Sunny and Bobby Deol, Esha Deol and nephew Abhay Deol. 
• Father-son music directors S.D. Burman and R.D. Burman, Roshan and Rajesh Roshan, Chitragupta and Anand-Milind also worked with him, as did lyricists Anjaan and Sameer. Kishore Kumar and Mukesh and their respective sons Amit Kumar and Nitin Mukesh also sang for him.

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