Actress Esha Deol says she has no complaints about being permanently linked to her 'Dhoom Girl' image, nearly two decades after the 2004 action blockbuster Dhoom turned her into one of Bollywood's most recognisable screen personas. Far from wanting to shed the label, she considers it a mark of distinction that relatively few actors earn in an entire career.

Owning the Identity

Esha, who played Sheena in Dhoom, said she continues to be greeted as both 'Dilbara' and the 'Dhoom Girl' by fans across generations. In a recent conversation, she was candid about what that recognition means to her.

'I own it with pride, that's my identity with, you know, the masses, the audiences, they call me Dilbara and then they will say Dhoom Girl and that's what the film has given me that. A lot of actors don't get that prestige,' she said.

She added, contextualising her pride with a family comparison: 'When it comes to my mother, she's done so many movies but 'Basanti aayi hai', they will say Jai Veeru (for Amitabh and Dharmendra). So I have been, I think, fortunate to get that title in my career and being called the Dilbara or Dhoom Girl, so I love it, no complaints.'

The Songs That Made Her a Star

Dhoom became a cultural milestone not just for its high-octane bike chases and action sequences, but equally for its music — and Esha was at the centre of two of its most memorable tracks. 'Dhoom Machale', sung by Sunidhi Chauhan, became the film's signature anthem, while 'Dilbara', featuring Esha alongside Uday Chopra, struck an equally strong chord with audiences.

Notably, 'Dhoom Machale' became a national rage well before the era of social media streaming, spreading largely through television airplay and word of mouth — a testament to the song's organic appeal.

The Hema Malini Parallel: Basanti Lives On

Esha drew a telling parallel with her mother, veteran actress and politician Hema Malini, who remains inseparably linked to the character of Basanti from the 1975 cult classic Sholay, directed by Ramesh Sippy. In that film, Hema portrayed a spirited, fearless village girl who earns her living driving a horse-drawn tonga and falls in love with Veeru, played by Dharmendra.

Sholay also featured Amitabh Bachchan as Jai — completing the legendary Jai-Veeru duo — alongside Sanjeev Kumar as Thakur Baldev Singh and Amjad Khan in the iconic role of Gabbar Singh. More than five decades after the film's release, Basanti remains one of Hema Malini's most celebrated characters, a parallel that Esha now sees reflected in her own career.

Why Iconic Screen Tags Endure

The persistence of character-based nicknames — Basanti, Dhoom Girl, Dilbara — points to a broader phenomenon in Hindi cinema: certain performances and songs crystallise an actor's public identity so completely that they outlast filmographies many times larger. For Esha, whose career also includes films such as Yuva and Dus, the Dhoom association has proven to be the most durable.

As Bollywood continues to revisit the Dhoom franchise in development discussions, Esha's pride in the original's legacy suggests the film's cultural footprint remains very much alive.