‘Tell Me, O khuda’ with Esha Deol, Dharmendra and Hema Malini
“Right from my childhood, when I would be getting ready for school, my mom would be getting her makeup done for her shoot,” recalls Esha Deol, star daughter of super stars Dharmendra and Hema Malini. “So instead of being in uniform, I would try on her wig, put on her lipstick. I used to love watching ‘Seeta Aur Geeta’ which I saw every day. I loved dancing on all Hindi songs of the 80’s, so I knew that this is what I have always wanted to do.”
Now she’s acting for the first time in a film with her famous father – and directed by her mother – ‘Tell Me, Oh Khuda’. She says, “Everything about them is in my genes – be it acting, dancing or just my traits as a human being.”
Bollywood – All In the Deol Family
Bollywood certainly runs in her veins and of course her half brothers Sunny and Bobby Deol are also very much a part of Indian cinema. Any chance of seeing all the Deols together in a film?
She says, “ Tell Me O Khuda’ is coming out on October 27 – this is the first time I’ve acted with my dad in a film and been directed by my mom. So God willing, if there is something good, we will come together!”
Parampara with Hema Malini & Ahana Deol
Currently Esha is in New York with sister Ahana and mother Hema Malini to star in a very different vehicle – ‘Parampara’, a traditional Indian classical concert, bringing the two diverse dances of Bharatanatyam and Odissi together on the stage. Was dancing something that was inborn in her?
“I tried learning Bharatanatyam but was distracted as a kid,” she confesses. “I wanted to play instead of dancing, but when I was in the 6th standard, I watched an Odissi performance on TV and that’s the way I realized that Odissi is the dance form that I want to take up.”
Ask her about dancing in the family, and she says, “It is always a wonderful feeling to dance with my mother and sister and it’s even more special because I am dancing in my favorite city in the whole world for the first time – New York! I had come to New York in 2006 for the Rock Star World Tour but this time it’s for purely classical dance. So New York, here we come! ”
Related Article on Parampara Dance Performance: