Amitabh Bachchan remembered his ‘Sholay’ co-star Dharmendra fondly on the sets of ‘KBC’ during a special episode with team ‘Ikkis’, which features the late star in his last role before his death in November at the age of 89.

In the movie, Dharmendra played the father to Nanda’s Arun Khetarpal, the youngest Param Vir Chakra recipient in history. Khetarpal, played in the movie by Bachchan’s grandson Agastya Nanda, was killed during the 1971 India-Pakistan war when he was just 21, a PTI report stated.

Bachchan said ‘Ikkis’ is one last precious memory that Dharmendra left for his countless fans.

During the ‘KBC’ episode, Bachchan said, “The film ‘Ikkis’ is the last precious memento for us, which was left behind for millions of people. An artist wants to practise art till the last breath of his life, and this is exactly what my friend, my family and my idol, Mr Dharmendra Deol, did.

“Mr Dharam was not just a person. He was feeling, and a feeling never lets you go. It becomes a memory, a blessing that keeps you going.”

Reminiscing about ‘Sholay’ shoot, Bachchan brought up one particular scene to highlight Dharam’s multi-faceted character and said, “We were shooting in Bangalore. He had what I call a physical quality; he was a wrestler, a hero. In the death scene, the agony you saw on screen was real because of the way he held me so tightly that the pain became natural acting.”

Sriram Raghavan, the director of ‘Ikkis’, who appeared on ‘KBC’ to promote the movie, said, “I am very blessed that he is working in my last film and that his last film is something he is extraordinarily good at.”

Actor Jaideep Ahlawat, also a part of ‘Ikkis’, echoed the sentiment, sharing, “I was lucky to have most of my scenes with him. On set, it never felt like a superstar was sitting with us; he felt like family.”

Meanwhile, an earlier PTI report had said that Mukesh Khetarpal, Arun Khetarpal’s brother, could not stop crying after seeing his brother’s life unfold on the big screen in ‘Ikkis’ and he praised Nanda for perfectly embodying his late brother.

In a video shared by PVR Cinemas on Instagram, Mukesh can be seen watching the film in a theatre and crying inconsolably later.