He may be a Bollywood veteran-turned politician now, but for ageing actor Dharmendra, it was a very special and emotional journey down the memory lane to Phagwara, where he spent most of his childhood.

Busy these days in the shooting of his newest venture Apne in Punjab, co-starring his two actor sons Sunny and Bobby Deol, Dharmendra took time off from his packed schedule to come to Phagwara early on Thursday morning to visit his childhood haunt and a quick meal of 'paranthas' and sweets at his relatives'.

Though he had paid a secret midnight visit to Phagwara in 2001, Thursday's visit came after a gap of 30 years. Accompanied by wife Parkash Kaur, Dharmendra went to the house of his maternal uncle in the crowded bylanes of Sarafan Bazar and met his sister-in-law Sunita.

Little aches and pains forgotten, the 70-year-old actor ran up the stairs and enthusiastically climbed the parapets, where he used to sit as a boy. At the famous sweet shop of Katehra Chowk Halwai, where he used to eat sweets as a young boy he ate a 'pinni' and posed for pictures with the locals.

Though he had come unannounced, the news of his arrival spread like wild fire in the town and people surged at Katehra Chowk, where the actor generously gave away autographs to admirers.

The emotional actor, whose life's mantra was "get love and give love", recalled the little joys and miseries that he had left behind in Phagwara to answer the irresistible call of Bollywood.

Dharmendra referred to as 'Mandir' the Jagjit Talkie in Townhall and the Paradise Theatre - his favourite haunts as a young boy here.

"The zarra-zarra (each particle) of this land is worth worshipping for me," said an emotional Dharmendra.

He agreed with a questioner that as a boy he was denied a role in a play Sikander directed by a local chap and his class fellow Kulwant Parmar in 1956.

"Kulwant later became Nadeem and settled abroad writing poetry and fiction and I was destined to go to Mumbai," he remarked. "I left Phagwara in 1959 after winning a Filmfare contest even though babuji (Dharmendra's late father Kewal Krishan), who taught in a local Arya School, did not take it kindly then," he continued.

"I am not actor but you made me feel like one today," he quipped when asked about his reckoning as a film star. When asked how he felt after reaching the pinnacle of glory in Bollywood, a humble Dharmendra replied he did not consider what he has achieved in the film industry, as a glory but as "blessing of the Almighty and love of the people."