A 'Dreamgirl' forever

She says it has taken her a lot to maintain it over her four-decade-old film career.

“The ‘Dreamgirl’ title has been with me for a long time. My name got attached with
it many years back, but I worked hard to achieve it, to maintain it,” Hema said at the Colors’ Golden Petal Awards ceremony recently.

The 63-year-old kept true to her ‘Dreamgirl’ tag when she came on the stage in a golden sari with the ‘Dreamgirl’ song playing in the backdrop. Her poise and grace could give any new age actress a run for money. However, Hema clarifies her hard work was never aimed at earning any title.

“We (actors) don’t work hard in films to earn titles like this ‘Dreamgirl’ one. We work hard to get the artiste out of us. That’s all,” said the actress, who earned fame with films like Sholay, Seeta Aur Geeta and Johnny Mera Naam.

At her age, she is fit as a fiddle, with glowing skin -— and when TV actors Apara Mehta and Himani Shivpuri asked her about the secret of her fitness, she said, “You should all dance! And by dance I mean do classical, traditional bharatnatyam, not Sheila Ki Jawaani. And drink 17 bottles of water everyday!”

Now that’s quite a tip from the evergreen diva herself, who recently directed Tell Me O Kkhuda to relaunch her daughter, Esha Deol in the film industry.