Hema Malini, Esha Deol Skip Dharmendra’s Prayer Meet; Actor Holds Private Pooja at Home

Sunita later confirmed to Screen that Hema Malini had organised a bhajan sandhya at her residence. “Hema ji had kept a paath of the Bhagavad Gita and bhajans. We all sat together and listened. I couldn’t stop crying in front of Hema ji,” she said.

Hema Malini is Dharmendra’s second wife. The veteran actor was earlier married to Prakash Kaur in 1954, with whom he had four children — Sunny, Bobby, Vijeta and Ajeeta. With Hema, he shared two daughters, Esha and Ahana.

On Thursday, Hema posted an emotional tribute to her late husband on social media. “Dharam ji… He was many things to me — loving husband, adoring father to our girls Esha and Ahaana, friend, philosopher, guide, poet, my ‘go-to’ person in all times of need. In fact, he was everything to me,” she wrote on X.

Dharmendra’s Prayer Meet

Dharmendra’s family held a prayer meet, titled Celebration of Life, on Thursday at a Mumbai hotel. His first wife Prakash Kaur attended with their children — Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol, Ajeeta and Vijeta — along with grandsons Karan and Rajveer. Actor Abhay Deol was also present.

Sunny and Bobby appeared visibly emotional as they stood through the service, which began at 5:30 pm and concluded around 8 pm.

The prayer meet was attended by several celebrities, including Salman Khan, Aishwarya Rai, Madhuri Dixit, Vidya Balan, Shabana Azmi, Jackie Shroff, Sidharth Malhotra, Suniel Shetty, Ameesha Patel, Fardeen Khan, Nimrat Kaur, Sonu Sood, Anu Malik, Subhash Ghai, Abbas–Mastan and Anil Sharma.

Dharmendra passed away on November 24 at the age of 89, days ahead of his 90th birthday on December 8. He had recently been discharged from Mumbai’s Breach Candy Hospital and was recuperating at home. He was cremated on November 25.