She revealed that she was upset because her own name was missing from the publicity campaign of her debut film, and only had the title of dream girl in the posters.
Appearing on a special episode of singing reality show, 'Indian Idol', the legendary actress recalled how the iconic title became associated with her years before the release of her 1977 film 'Dream Girl'.
Sharing the anecdote, Hema said, "Sab log sochte hain ki mera naam Dream Girl issi film ki wajah se pada, which is absolutely not right. Jab meri pehli film 'Sapno Ka Saudagar' release hone wali thi, toh mere producer ji ne bola, 'Main aapko poora Mumbai darshan karata hoon aur picture bhi release hone wali hai. Iska publicity dikhata hoon aapko.' Aur main bahut khush ho gayi thi. Mummy aur main, mera bhai, sab log gaadi mein the. Har jagah poora Mumbai dekh rahe the. Toh gaana laga hua tha, 'Dream Girl Coming', aisa likha hua tha. Toh main pareshan ho gayi thi kyunki usmein mera naam hi nahi tha. Main bahut udaas ho gayi thi. Tab unhone mujhse kaha, 'Hamesha aapke saath yehi naam rehne wala hai. Nobody can take it away. You'll be introduced into the film industry as Dream Girl.' Wahi se mujhe yeh naam mila. Dheere dheere jitni filmein main karti gayi, yeh naam aur bhi popular hota gaya. Baad mein meri mummy aur film ke makers ne milkar meri film ka naam bhi 'Dream Girl' rakh diya."
(Everyone believes that I got the name 'Dream Girl' because of this film, which is absolutely not true. When my first film, 'Sapno Ka Saudagar', was about to release, my producer took me on a tour of Mumbai to show me the publicity campaign. To my surprise, the hoardings simply read 'Dream Girl Coming'. My name wasn't mentioned anywhere, and I felt disappointed. The producer then told me that this title would stay with me forever and that I would be introduced to the film industry as the 'Dream Girl'. That's how the name came into my life. As I did more films, it became even more popular, and later my mother and the makers decided to title one of my films 'Dream Girl'.)
Host Aditya Narayan then asked Hema about the making of the film 'Dream Girl' and its timeless song 'Kisi Shayar Ki Ghazal', to which Hema Malini recalled find memories.
Recalling the filming of the evergreen number, Hema shared, "Mujhe yaad hai jab shooting hui thi, 5–6 din tak uski shooting hui thi kyunki alag-alag costume mein mujhe aana tha. Yeh film meri mummy ne produce ki thi aur Pramod Chakravorty ji ne direct ki thi. And this picture has nothing to do with Dream Girl naam, woh alag story hai. But then they wanted to name the movie, kya naam rakhe movie ka? And then they decided 'Dream Girl'. The story is little bit based on me more than the main other characters, so it was suitable for that. Camera angles ke liye Murthy ji the. He was very famous. He was working with Guru Dutt ji. Set par sabki sirf ek hi koshish thi ki yeh gaana sabse behtareen bane. Mujhe bilkul andaza nahi tha ki yeh gaana itna famous ho jayega ki aaj bhi bachche iss par perform karte hain aur aap sab log ise enjoy karte hain. I am really thankful to all those people who worked so hard at that time ye gaane ko picturize karne mein."
(I still remember that the shoot for this song went on for five to six days because I had to appear in different costumes. The film was produced by my mother and directed by Pramod Chakravorty ji. Interestingly, the film initially had nothing to do with the title 'Dream Girl', that was a different story altogether. When the makers were deciding on a title, they eventually chose 'Dream Girl' because the story revolved more around my character. We had the legendary cinematographer V.K. Murthy, who had worked extensively with Guru Dutt ji. Everyone on set was determined to make the song the very best it could be. I never imagined it would become so iconic that children would still perform to it today. I remain grateful to everyone who worked so hard to bring the song to life)
Adding to the conversation, singer Shreya Ghoshal remarked that it was Hema's iconic identity that eventually inspired the title of the film. Smiling to the revelation in acknowledgement, the veteran actress agreed, saying the nickname only grew stronger with every successful film she delivered.
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