Simply put, Dharmendra's demise means the loss of one of the biggest icons ever in the Hindi film firmament.
His incredible career straddled seven decades, notching up around 250 film appearances and more hits than almost any other leading man.
Dharmendra's prolificity and tangible love for his craft resulted in audiences turning their beloved star's films into successes every year for decades, but some years saw his star shoot up stratospherically with multiple hits.
Consider 1966: After a bare-chested Dharmendra loomed over a shivering Meena Kumari in the year's biggest blockbuster, Phool Aur Patthar, he was awarded accolades like Hindi cinema's first He-Man.
Significantly, in the same year, he scored three other successes in Mamta, Anupama and Aaye Din Bahar Ke.
Consider 1973: At a time when superstar Rajesh Khanna had notched up seven consecutive box office disappointments, Dharmendra had the best year of his career.
His teaming with Hema Malini was absolutely adored by the paying public and resulted in one of the year's biggest superhits, Jugnu.
Moreover, the star also had Yaadon Ki Baraat, Loafer, Kahani Kismet Ki all thronging theatres in the same annum.
Consider 1987: The 52 year old still held the box office captive, all guns blazing, with hit actioners such as Hukumat, Aag Hi Aag, Insaaniyat Ke Dushman and Wattan Ke Rakhwale making him the distributors' darling.
Dharmendra's sustained appeal over half a century goes beyond number-crunching.
The handsome Jat could project stalwart masculinity and look good in denims or dinner jackets.
He was the first A-lister with well-defined musculature.
Dharmendra's muscles rippled like sheaves of wheat on the plains of his native Punjab, but that is not where his appeal ended.
The actor won over audiences with open, honest eyes, a warm, wide smile judiciously mixed with intensity and a certain vulnerability and shyness.
Dharmendra answered everyone's description of the nice guy.
It was not all projection; he was much the same in real life.
I got to study the star at chose quarters over the course of our non-stop jabbering on the outdoor locations of Kasam Suhaag Ki and Aag Hi Aag.
He warmed up as we discussed his favourite, singer-actress Suraiya.
Later, he insisted we play badminton. Fortunately, I was learning badminton at the NSCI club courts and could parry his smashes, even if only for a while.
We shared drinks with Danny Denzongpa as well as the unit dabba (he could polish off platefuls of food and, yes, I lost count of his drinks too).
I discovered facets of Dharmendra's personality that appealed to me a great deal.
The star was moved to tears when a careworn villager, who he had given a lift to in his swanky car, offered him Rs 5 on alighting.
He was warm and large-hearted, whether inviting me for Bobby's wedding or in everyday interactions.
When my wife Anita interviewed him at his Juhu house, she was impressed by his concern for others.
Dharmendra instructed the accompanying photographer to first have the tea and snacks before setting up his equipment, insisting 'Kaam to hote rahega.'
This rootedness came from his background in the Punjab village of Phagwara, and from his beloved parents.
Dharmendra would often quote his father's philosophies.
At 19, he was married to a Punjabi girl, Prakash, and became a father (to Sunny) a couple of years later.
But his obsession with cinema drew him to a talent contest organised by Filmfare, which in turn led to Mumbai.
The chisel-chinned but still-reed-thin newcomer signed on Arjun Hingorani's Dil Bhi Tera Hum Bhi Tere (1960), for a paltry Rs 51.
At the premiere of this first film, Dharmendra went unrecognised at Mumbai's Central Cinema and sneaked back home on a train.
The film was not a hit but Dharmendra got steady work in heroine-dominated films opposite Nutan (Soorat Aur Seerat, Bandini), Mala Sinha (Anpadh) and Meena Kumari (Kaajal).
He even played a negative role in his first colour film, the Rajendra Kumar starrer, Aayee Milan Ki Bela (1964).
Dharmendra's fortunes changed when Phool Aur Patthar (1966), set the box office aflame.
As the ruffian Shaka, Dharmendra modulated raw physicality and whipcord muscles with a touching humanity in his love for a widow (Meena Kumari) and won big-time stardom.
The strapping star immediately consolidated his stardom, not only with hit thrillers like Shikaar and Aankhen (both 1968) but also with sensitive subjects helmed by Bimal Roy (who cast him after Bandini in Sahaara but died before its completion) and Hrishikesh Mukherji (whose Anupama and Satyakam established his credentials as a consummate actor).
Many, including Dharmendra himself, consider Satyakam (1969) to be his best work.
He played an idealist who didn't forsake his philosophy of absolute truth even in the face of ruination, and Dharmendra responded emotionally to the role with unalloyed finesse.
Unfortunately, Dharmendra didn't win the popular award for the film... or ever! Shockingly, Dharmendra has never won the Filmfare Best Actor Award.
Nevertheless, the next two decades were studded with popular hits. Dharmendra was the only male star who stood tall through the Rajesh Khanna wave of the early 1970s.
Later, Amitabh Bachchan's megastardom too couldn't dent Dharmendra's immense popularity.
Dharmendra enthusiastically embraced the action genre after Mera Gaon Mera Desh (1971).
Naya Zamana, Dost and Chupke Chupke presented a more versatile side of the actor, but the action image predominated with megahits like Jugnu (1973), Sholay (1975) and Dharam Veer (1977).
His presence assured decent returns even for his ordinary films in this era.
Dharmendra was very good at portraying the fisticuffs-wielding strong man who is holding down the lid on boiling indignation.
Nobody could say 'Main tujhe zinda nahin chhodunga (I will not spare your life)/ more convincingly.
The 1975 monster hit Sholay saw him blend a deliciously dotty comic dimension to the brawling.
With the famous 'Mausi going to jail' sequence atop a water tank from Sholay, his flair for serious silliness touched classic heights.
Like Sholay, many of his successful films were now with Hema Malini, and the fan-favourite pair did 28 films together.
Dharmendra fell in love with Hema, and their defiant marriage (he remained married to his first wife) strangely meant that they stopped doing films together.
Even after Sunny became a star in his own right with Betaab in the 1980s, Dharmendra's success streak continued simultaneously with Nauker Biwi Ka (1983) and Ghulami (1985).
He successfully produced Betaab and Barsaat to launch his sons, Sunny and Bobby, yet chose to refrain from making a film to showcase his own talents.
Distributors clamoured for Dharmendra's films well into the 1990s.
Thereafter, the actor did many maar-dhaad films, most of little distinction that didn't merit his presence.
A short stint in politics followed (he was an MP from 2004 to 2009).
At the age of 72, Dharmendra accomplished a striking return to cinematic form with Life... In A Metro and Apne (both 2007).
The Deol family dynamics of the latter film also worked for Yamla Pagla Deewana (2011), the title of which was inspired from Dharmendra's famous song from Pratiggya which had immortalized his endearingly inept style of dancing.
Dharmendra's shoulder-to-the-wheel attitude saw him continue to adapt to contemporary cinema.
He made a splash with Karan Johar's Rocky Rani Ki Prem Kahaani (2023) in which the alpha male still set off sparks when he kissed Shabana Azmi on screen.
And the senior star joined Instagram in which he addressed fans as 'Doston' from his lush Lonavala farmhouse where he spent much of his last years. ('Gaon se aaya tha … shehri ban na paaya.' he wrote.)
Besides his family, films were Dharmendra's bloodline and his legacy.
The Marathon Man died as he would have wished: With a new film (Ikkis) about to grace the silver screen.
Photographs curated by Satish Bodas/Rediff