Dharmendra at a city hotel on Wednesday. Picture by Anindya Shankar Ray

The city of Suchitra Sen brings a strange smile to the face of Dharam Singh Deol. You can see it in his eyes that he has boarded the time machine and gone back to the “many wonderful moments” he once experienced here.

Punjab is his homeland, Mumbai his workplace but Calcutta holds a special place in the heart of Bollywood’s original he-man.

On Wednesday, Dharmendra touched down for a private Dhanteras do.

When asked about his Calcutta airport experience — in keeping with the ongoing TT for City: Aargh! Airport campaign — Garam Dharam said: “The Calcutta airport is not on a par with the airports in Mumbai and Delhi. Doosre airports ke comparison mein peechhe hai... There is a lot of room for improvement.”

That was the only thumbs-down bit about the city from Dharamendra.

From then on, the 74-year-old shared with Metro some of his best memories of the city, his fondness for Suchitra Sen and his forthcoming films where he has worked with almost every member of his extended family, including beloved Hema Malini...

On Suchitra Sen: I don’t get to talk to her these days but I will always be in love with her. She was such a beautiful person... so good to talk to... a great actress.

Miley na miley, unka ek mukaam mere dil mein hai.... You can call it respect, you can call it love, you can call it affection.... It will take time for another Suchitra Sen to be born. She was a world-class actress. And so beautiful.

The New Year’s party: I was here for the premiere of Mamta, my film with Suchitra Sen, in the mid-1960s. It was New Year’s Eve and I was staying at the Oberoi Grand. I remember coming down at night in a lungi.

A big party was going on and they wouldn’t allow me in without a coat and tie. Suddenly I found someone putting a coat on me, another guy putting a tie. So there I was in a lungi and coat, having the time of my life!

I also remember how I used to roam around the many small bars on Lindsay Street. A drink here and a drink there, it was fun.

Working with his two sons Sunny and Bobby: After Apne, the three of us are coming together again in Yamla Pagla Deewana. While Apne was entirely a family drama revolving around sports, this one is full of comedy with a little bit of emotions. I promise people will laugh and laugh and then cry.

On turning lyricist: It was not planned. I am playing a Punjabi character and so it happened naturally. I had done a song on stage in one of my US concerts. It goes something like... Kad ke bottle dabjo, Jat munh na lag jave, dafli baaje aapo aap, nasha sar nu chad jave. It’s a very atmospheric song and we decided to use those words. It’s not that I am turning lyricist.

Working with daughter Esha: It was I who didn’t want her to work in films and today I am working with her in Hema’s Tell Me Oh Khuda. Doing a film with Esha was a very nice experience. It’s just that I am very protective about her. She has done a couple of dangerous stunts in the film. There she was hanging from a rope in the middle of the sea and I was so anxious sitting on the coast and watching her.

Working with director Hema: It’s a very good thing, I feel, that Hema is directing me in this film. Once the camera starts, we forget whether the director and I know each other. As a director she is the guru for me as far as this particular film is concerned. I also think that she is a fine director.

50 years in films: I am still as jittery in front of the camera as I was on the first day of shooting. Even today, I ask the director after the shot, whether I was alright. It’s been 50 years that I have been working in this industry but cinema continues to be my mehbooba (lover). Sometimes she is upset with me and I woo her and sometimes I am upset with her and she woos me.

Do you think Suchitra Sen was a world-class actress? Tell ttmetro@abpmail.com