Hema Malini: Deepika Padukone Is Now Part Of  My Family!

…Hema Explains Why Husband Dharmendra Stayed Away From Book Launch

On  Monday when India’s Dream Girl Hema Malini turned a year older, all roads of the entertainment industry led to the venue  of the the release of her biography Beyond The Dream Girl.

The evening after the dream launch of the book on the Dream Girl Hema Malini sighs, “It was truly one of  the most memorable moments of my life. And it was very kind of Deepika to make time to come for  the launch of  the  book. Deepika is now part  of  my family. I consider her to be  my daughter like Esha and Ahana. And by the way I am also very fond of Deepika as an actress. It is said that her character in her debut film Om Shanti Om was based on me. I don’t know  how far that’s true. But after Aishwarya, I see Deepika as  the most graceful  actress we have.”

While Deepika’s presence  was a big bright spot at the book launch Hemaji’s husband Dharmendra’s absence was  a downer.

“He wanted to be there,” says the protective and  loving wife. “ButDharamji gets very nervous around big crowds. And the crowd at  the  book launch was really huge.Nowadays whenever I am at an event  the crowds get hard to control. Even I got very nervous seeing the size  of the crowd. I didn’t want  him to be jostled around. So  I am glad I asked him to stay away.  But he was with  me and the family for the entire day. He writes such lovely  poetry  for me. I am  specially fond   of  the one entitled Saadgi which he  has written for me. You must ask him to recite it. He always thinks my simplicity is my biggest virtue.”

Speaking of  simplicity , during her heydays filmmakers would insist on heaping her  with tons of wigs and makup.

Laughs Hemaji, “When I  look at at my looks those days I feel uncomfortable. Nowadays the minimal makeup look is in and  I am so much more comfortable with it.Changing trends have and fashion are part of life.But dressing up in those days when I  was doing so many films was always a pain.”

For  the  book launch  the Dream  Girl wore a beautiful blue saree. “Did you like it?  Manish Malhotra designed the saree. There were other designers who were keen to dress me  up for the evening. I  liked a black saree that Neeta Lullaji had done for  me. But I was advised  not to wear black on my  birthday.”

The audio-video of 50 prominent colleagues and  admirers from the  film industry speaking about her at  the  book launch really movedHemaji. “They didn’t have to pay me such rich compliments. It is my good fortune that people speak nicely about me. I am surprised I’ve survived so long. When I was told I had completed 50 years in the film industry I  was not impressed.  This year it is 50 years, next year it would be 51…so what? It’s the quality of the work that you do stays in the minds and hearts  of  the people.”

The dream girl is now excited about the new arrival in  her family. “My elder daughter Esha is expecting her first child this month. Do I want a grandson or a granddaughter? Donon chalega. But since I already have a grandson(younger daughter Ahana’s child) a  granddaughter would be  nice. Would I want her to be an actress like  me? She can be  be anything she wants as long as she is happy  in life.”