Dharmendra remained impervious to the superstardom of his contemporaries, Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan, but didn’t get celebrated as much for his own. Despite the diversity of roles in over 300 films and 65 years in the film industry, dotted with innumerable hits, being the He-Man ended up defining Dharmendra and confining him as well.

But for every action entertainer like Raj Khosla’s Mera Gaon Mera Desh (1971), and Nasir Hussain’s Yaadon Ki Baaraat (1973), there was Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s hilarious Chupke Chupke, and the same filmmaker’s poignant Satyakam. And of course, there was Ramesh Sippy’s Sholay.

Through the 80s, 90s and 2000s, his career began sliding, and his own children and nephew—Sunny, Bobby, Esha and Abhay Deol—took to showbiz. He later retired to his farmhouse in Lonavala.

It took Sriram Raghavan to celebrate the Garam-Dharam magic in Johnny Gaddar (2007). And, ironically, it’s Raghavan’s Ikkis, a few weeks away from release, that’d perhaps be his last, and posthumous, performance. From a martyr in Haqeeqat to the father of one in the Raghavan film, hopefully, it would be the fitting finale for the multi-layered person and actor Dharmendra was.