When Dharmendra made Sunny Deol redo ‘Betaab’ dubbing; 'Border' actor reveals dad's only slap in life left two fingers imprinted on his face

Sunny Deol has done well to keep his superstar family’s legacy alive while making his own name in films. He started with the hit movie ‘Betaab’ in 1983 and often thanks his father, Dharmendra, for helping him along the way. But Dharmendra once said he wasn’t fully happy with Sunny’s early work and asked him to redo all the dubbing for ‘Betaab’.Dharmendra’s tough love on dubbingOn The RKB Show, Dharmendra reminisced about his son’s early work, saying, “I saw the trial show of his first film Betaab and dubbing was completed. After seeing the trial show, I got so angry. I came home and I asked ‘Kahan hai Sunny sahib? Nikalo use.’ I took him along with me, and I made him redo the whole dubbing. He used to get very tired.”The challenge of dubbingDharmendra reflected on his early dubbing experience, saying, “I remember my first dubbing.

I had torn my shirt because I was like, ‘Why do I have to do this dubbing after acting in front of the camera?’ In dubbing, all those emotions don’t come forth. It is difficult, but until and unless you put soul into it… if you don’t put soul in dubbing, then there is nothing.”Late-night dubbing sessionsHe once shared how deeply involved he was during the dubbing of Betaab with his son Sunny Deol. He said, “I used to stay with him till 11pm–12am at night during Betaab dubbing sessions.

Sometimes, when I would pretend to leave for home, I would be hiding and watching Sunny. I could hear him tell the technician, ‘Kal karenge.’”Discipline and discipline memoriesOnce, Sunny described how he felt when his father Dharmendra insisted he redo the dubbing for Betaab, saying, “It was like going to school and the headmaster sitting there.” Dharmendra explained, “I treated him very nicely but my father, even when Sunny was small, he had slapped me.”

He revealed he had only slapped Sunny once in his life, recounting, “Once I had slapped Sunny. He was small at that time, and I had gotten him a shotgun, and he had broken all the windows of the neighbour’s house.

That was the only time I slapped him, but I kept calling back at home to ask how is he after going to the studio.” Sunny vividly remembered and said, “At the time when Papa hit me, I had two fingers imprinted on my face.”Back injury and fearless stuntsSunny suffered a severe back injury while playing football during his college years in England, which led him to be more cautious later on. Despite this, he continued to perform risky stunts in his films. When asked if Dharmendra ever tried to stop Sunny from doing such stunts, he replied, “We get to know about his stunts only after watching the films. Only then we know he has jumped from a height or done bungee jumping.”Daring stunt in ‘Hero’Director Anil Sharma, who has collaborated with Sunny Deol on blockbusters like ‘Gadar’ and ‘Gadar 2’, shared a vivid memory of a particularly daring stunt. He said, “In the film Hero, he had to jump from 11,000 feet and he was ready to do it, but I was not sure. I was very tense, but he told me not to tell Dharmendra ji about the stunt. He said, ‘Papa ko yeh baat pata nahin chalna chahiye (Dad can’t know about this).’”

Dharmendra joined in with a smile, adding, “Sometimes in Jatt people, guts work more than their brains.

”Performing his own stuntsSunny also openly talked about how he frequently took over for stuntmen in his movies by doing the stunts himself. He mentioned, “When I did Betaab, I had 6–7 stuntmen who were changed, and I used to do those stunts. Because I was a sports guy, I was able to do them easily, and they couldn’t do it. I used to jump from the roof right down with no boxes on the ground to support me, and that’s why my back is gone.”