Deol Family Tree - Dharmendra, Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol

Kewal Kishan Singh Deol was the father of the Hindi film star Dharmendra and the patriarch of the Deol family of Indian cinema. He worked as a schoolteacher in the Ludhiana district of Punjab, where his son Dharam Singh Deol grew up in rural villages before leaving for Bombay to pursue a career in films. With his wife Satwant Kaur he raised Dharmendra and his younger brother Ajit Deol. Through these two sons he was the grandfather of the actors Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol, Esha Deol and Abhay Deol, and the great-grandfather of Karan Deol and Rajveer Deol, so that three generations of his descendants have worked as actors in Hindi cinema.

Satwant Kaur was the mother of the Hindi film actor Dharmendra and of his younger brother Ajit Deol. She was married to Kewal Kishan Singh Deol, a schoolteacher in the Ludhiana district of Punjab, and raised her family in the villages of rural Punjab, the background that later shaped her son's rustic, down-to-earth public image. Dharmendra spoke of his parents with affection throughout his career. Through her sons she was the grandmother of the actors Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol, Esha Deol and Abhay Deol, and the great-grandmother of Karan Deol and Rajveer Deol.

Dharmendra, born Dharam Singh Deol on 8 December 1935 in Nasrali in the Ludhiana district of Punjab, was one of the most popular leading men in the history of Hindi cinema. The son of schoolteacher Kewal Kishan Singh Deol and Satwant Kaur, he entered films after winning a talent contest and made his debut in Dil Bhi Tera Hum Bhi Tere (1960). Over more than six decades he starred in films such as Phool Aur Patthar, Satyakam, Seeta Aur Geeta, Chupke Chupke and Sholay. He married Prakash Kaur in 1954, with whom he had Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol and two daughters, and in 1980 married the actress Hema Malini, mother of Esha and Ahana Deol. He received the Padma Bhushan in 2012, served as Member of Parliament for Bikaner from 2004 to 2009, and died in Mumbai in November 2025.

Hema Malini, born on 16 October 1948 in Ammankudi, Tamil Nadu, is one of the most celebrated actresses of Hindi cinema, popularly known as the Dream Girl. After her Hindi film debut opposite Raj Kapoor in Sapnon Ka Saudagar (1968), she starred in hits such as Seeta Aur Geeta, for which she won the Filmfare Award for Best Actress, and Sholay, in which she played Basanti. She is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer and has also directed films. She married her frequent co-star Dharmendra in 1980, and they have two daughters, Esha Deol and Ahana Deol. She received the Padma Shri in 2000 and has represented Mathura in the Lok Sabha since 2014, after earlier serving in the Rajya Sabha.

Ajit Deol, also known as Ajit Singh Deol, was the younger brother of the Hindi film star Dharmendra and the father of the actor Abhay Deol. He was the son of Kewal Kishan Singh Deol and Satwant Kaur and grew up with his elder brother in the Ludhiana district of Punjab, later settling in Bombay, where the family's film career was based. The two brothers remained close, and Abhay Deol grew up in the extended Deol family alongside his cousins Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol. Abhay's own film debut, Socha Na Tha (2005), was produced by the family banner Vijayta Films.

Sunny Deol, born Ajay Singh Deol in 1956, is a Hindi film actor, director and producer and the elder son of Dharmendra and his first wife Prakash Kaur. He made his debut opposite Amrita Singh in Betaab (1983) and became one of the leading action stars of Hindi cinema. For Ghayal (1990) he won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor and a National Film Award Special Jury Award, and he won the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor for Damini (1993). His other major films include Border (1997), Gadar: Ek Prem Katha (2001) and its sequel Gadar 2 (2023). He directed Dillagi (1999) and Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas (2019), which launched his son Karan Deol. He served as Member of Parliament for Gurdaspur from 2019 to 2024. He is the brother of Bobby Deol and father of Karan and Rajveer Deol.

Bobby Deol, born Vijay Singh Deol on 27 January 1969, is a Hindi film actor and the younger son of Dharmendra and Prakash Kaur. He made his debut opposite Twinkle Khanna in Barsaat (1995), produced by the family banner Vijayta Films, winning the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut, and went on to star in films such as Gupt (1997), Soldier (1998) and Humraaz (2002). After a quieter period, his career was revived by the web series Aashram (2020) and by his widely praised role as the villain Abrar Haque in Animal (2023). He appeared alongside his father and brother Sunny Deol in Apne (2007) and the Yamla Pagla Deewana films. He married Tania Ahuja in 1996.

Abhay Deol, born on 15 March 1976 in Mumbai, is a Hindi film actor and producer, the son of Ajit Deol and the nephew of Dharmendra. He made his debut in Imtiaz Ali's Socha Na Tha (2005), produced by the family banner Vijayta Films, and became known for choosing unconventional roles outside the mainstream. His best-known films include Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! (2008), Anurag Kashyap's Dev.D (2009), Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011) and Raanjhanaa (2013), and he later starred in the Netflix series Trial by Fire (2023). He founded the production company Forbidden Films. He is the cousin of Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol and Esha Deol.

Esha Deol, born on 2 November 1981 in Mumbai, is a Hindi film actress and the elder daughter of Dharmendra and Hema Malini. Trained in classical dance like her mother, she made her film debut in Koi Mere Dil Se Poochhe (2002), which won her the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut. She went on to appear in films including Dhoom (2004), Yuva (2004) and No Entry (2005), and later returned to the screen in web series. She is the younger half-sister of Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol and the elder sister of Ahana Deol. She married the businessman Bharat Takhtani in 2012, and the couple announced their separation in 2024.

Karan Deol, born in 1990, is a Hindi film actor, the elder son of Sunny Deol and the grandson of Dharmendra and Prakash Kaur. He made his screen debut in the romantic drama Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas (2019), directed by his father, becoming the third generation of the Deol family to play a leading role in Hindi cinema. He followed it with the comedy Velle (2021), in which he starred alongside his father's cousin Abhay Deol. He is the elder brother of the actor Rajveer Deol and the nephew of Bobby Deol and Esha Deol. He married Drisha Acharya in 2023, in a wedding widely covered by the Indian media.

Rajveer Deol is a Hindi film actor, the younger son of Sunny Deol and a grandson of Dharmendra and Prakash Kaur. He made his debut in the romantic drama Dono (2023), produced by Rajshri Productions and directed by Avnish Barjatya, in which he starred opposite Paloma Dhillon. The film made him, like his elder brother Karan Deol, part of the third generation of the Deol family to act in Hindi cinema, following his grandfather Dharmendra and his father Sunny Deol. He is the nephew of the actors Bobby Deol and Esha Deol.