Dharmendra shocked over Jayalalithaa's demise

Mumbai:  Veteran actor Dharmendra on Tuesday said he was "deeply shocked" by the death of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa who acted with him in the Hindi movie "Izzat". "I am deeply shocked. She was my co-star. We worked together in 'Izzat' in 1968," the 81-year-old Dharmendra told a news channel channel. "At that time, we stayed for nearly one-and-a-half months in Kulu-Manali (Himachal Pradesh) for the shooting. She was there with her mother who prepared food for us," an emotional Dharmendra said. Later, whenever he visited Chennai, he would speak with her on telephone, but had not met her for years, the actor said. "When I learnt she was very ill, I fervently prayed for her recovery," he said. Jayalalithaa made her debut in Bollywood with the musical blockbuster 'Izzat', playing the role of a tribal girl Jhumki, who is in love with a high-caste character played by Dharmendra. Produced by F.C. Mehra and directed by T. Prakash Rao, the other female co-star in the movie was Tanuja.