Apne, the first movie starring Dharmendra and his sons Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol, has attracted large audiences in the US and Canada even as South Asians thronged special events featuring the stars that were organised in both countries to coincide with its release.

"All my success is due to my fans. Sunny, Bobby and I are here only because of the love and affection given to us by all our fans," Dharmendra told his fans at the American premiere of 'Apne' in San Francisco.

The premiere on Sunday was followed by the show "Dinner and Dance with the Stars", which was attended by Dharmendra and his sons.

Sunny said: "We've been wanting to act together for years. But unfortunately we couldn't get the right script. We didn't want to do a thing where three stars are there, sell it and don't worry about the content of the film.

"We had nearly given up till (director) Anil Sharma came and narrated to us the idea of 'Apne'."

Sharma explained, "It was an odd situation because we had our cast but no story. One day we got an idea of 'Apne' and everything just fell into place."

Bobby said he was "in awe throughout the shooting" of 'Apne' as he was "working with a legend of Indian cinema - my father".

The film's Canadian premiere on Saturday in Vancouver and Surrey was sold-out within minutes, said promoter Paul Atwal.

A large number of fans who could not get tickets for the "Dinner and Dance with the Stars" show in San Francisco gathered outside the venue to catch a glimpse of the stars.

Dharmendra was given a lifetime achievement award by DBR Entertainment while the Punjabi newspaper Quami Ekta honoured him for his contributions to Indian cinema.