He was a revelation
At a time when bollywood was ruled by urban City slickers who spoke with impeccable English a rarity in the early ages of independence
Dharmendra came literally from the country side he managed to beat the Filmfare talent contest winners on the basis of his hairstyle alone when all his competitors were copying Dev Anand Dharmendra had his own blue collar crew cut
He was the first muscle man of Bollywood
Mithun Chakraborty and
Sanjay Dutt came later
& Salman Khan much later
He literally introduced action
& James Bond inspired spy films
When an entire generation
& It's succeeding genaration of the 50s
& 60s were oscillating Between Tragedies and romantic movie
The man was devilishly handsome there's a reason why Meena Kumari lost her heart to him
& Later on Hema Malini
A box office juggernaut who have more than 5 hits twice in 1973 and 1987
Only Akshay Kumar is the modern day superstar who could do that again
Versatility thy name Dharmendra
Today when you think of Angry young man
King Of Romance
Action hero
Greek God
But Dharmendra was all rolled into one
A Dilip Kumar-esque tragedy in Bandhni
Sunil Dutt-esque idealistic idealism Satyakam
A Rajendra Kumar style romantic movie Dil Ne Phir Yaad Kiya
A Jeetendra style Caper Jugnu
An Amitabh Bachchan-esque angry young man movie Mera Gaon Mera Desh
A rib tickling comedy Chup Ke Chup Ke
He ended Rajesh Khanna’s reign
And started the action movie era with Mera Gaon Mera Desh
https://www.boxofficeindia.com/report-details.php?articleid=3848Long before SRK of Baazigar and Darr
We had Dharmendra of Aayi Milan Ki Bela
Long Before we had Salman Khan's vigilante antics of Kick
It was Dharmendra in Khatron Ke Khiladi who was the obvious predecessor
A whole host of actors got there big break and revival with Dharmendra
Sanjay Khan's first big hit with Dharmendra
Haqeeqat
Feroz Khan's movie which put him in the big leagues with Dharmendra Aadmi Aur Insaan
Vinod Khanna's ticket to stardom Mera Gaon Mera Desh with Dharmendra
Shatrughan Sinha’s first movie albiet a small in Pyar Hi Pyar with Dharmendra
Jeetendra's comeback into bollywood’s reckoning with Dharmendra
Dharam Veer
Amitabh Bachchan got his name recommended for Sholay
By Dharmendra
Dharmendra invented the muscular anti hero archetype
The soft & or vulnerable face
With a tough body
Copied by so many actors of multiple generations
Feroz Khan
Vinod Khanna
Shatrughan Sinha
Amitabh Bachchan
Mithun Chakraborty
Jackie Shroff
Sanjay Dutt
Sunny Deol
Salman Khan
Akshay Kumar
John Abraham
Even actors who didn't copy Dharmendra’s tough guy archetype you could see flashes of his on screen charisma and wit in the like likes of Anil Kapoor
Govinda and
Shah Rukh Khan
The man was a box office beast who gane more than 50 hits more most superstars
Nowadays you use almost senior citizens like Akshay Kumar and Shah Rukh Khan still doing main lead
But the trend started from here a 57 years old Dharmendra giving a blockbuster like Tahelka
When Amitabh Bachchan after the underperforming Khuda Gawah had announced retirement.
Hell till 1995 Dharmendra was still a bigger draw than up and coming SRK
In the 60s Dharmendra ji was competing with Dilip Kumar, Sunil Dutt,Shammi Kapoor, Rajendra Kumar
1970s he was competing with Amitabh Bachchan, Rajesh Khanna, Vinod Khanna, Jeetendra,Manoj Kumar, Shashi Kapoor
1980s he was he was competing with Mithun Chakraborty, Sanjay Dutt, Jackie Shroff and even his own son Sunny Deol
1990s he was competing with Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar and Shah Rukh Khan
Dharmendra Ji’s life is what dreams are made off I hope God grant mercy to his good soul and I hope all of us get success similar to dharm ji