Esha Deol says dad Dharmendra wasn’t keen on her entering Bollywood, felt ‘girls should be kept away from the world’

Actor Esha Deol has revealed that her father, veteran actor Dharmendra, didn’t want her to enter Bollywood as he ‘is possessive and orthodox’. She added that Dharmendra felt ‘girls should be kept away from the world in a protected way’.

Esha Deol recently marked her production debut with the upcoming film Ek Duaa. She will also star in the Ramkamal Mukherjee-directed the film. The movie will be backed by Esha and her businessman-husband, Bharat Takhtani, under the banner of Bharat Esha Films (BEF).

Speaking to Indian Express about how men and women are treated differently, Esha said, “I wouldn’t say that they have it tough. Yes, there is a different level of challenge and boys too have their own set. As far as my father is concerned, he is possessive and orthodox, and for him, girls should be kept away from the world in a protected way. That was what he must have felt, also knowing how our industry functions. All said and done, we managed and how!”

On The Kapil Sharma Show last year, Esha’s mother, actor Hema Malini, had revealed that Dharmendra was strongly opposed to Esha entering the film industry. A leading daily had quoted her as saying, “Esha was interested in extra-curricular activities such as sports and dance. Like in our house, we used to do dance practice because of which she started liking it and wanted to be a professional dancer and even make her career in Bollywood. However, Dharamji didn’t like his daughter dancing or making her Bollywood debut and he had an objection to that.”

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Esha’s last big-screen outing in Bollywood was the 2011 drama Tell Me O Kkhuda. She took a sabbatical from work after her marriage to Bharat in 2012. The couple has two daughters. Esha will also be seen in the Disney+ Hotstar VIP crime-drama series Rudra-The Edge of Darkness, starring Ajay Devgn.