Abhay Deol on a relatively slow start for latest, Happy Bhag Jayegi
Shaheen Parkar (MID-DAY; August 24, 2016)

After the 2014 film, One By Two, Abhay Deol features in last Friday’s release, Happy Bhag Jayegi. “I, too, am in a happy state of mind,” he chirps and adds, “Things seem to be going well and whether slowly or in an instant, I hope the film reaches its final destination — doing well. What has got people [to theatres] is the clean humour. Plus, everyone seems to have liked the characters.”

Deol seems to have a self- imposed ‘now you see me, now you don’t’ rule. He does a film, then disappears. And just when you wonder where he has vamoosed, he comes back into the picture. What does he do in the long breaks that he takes between films? “I use that time to live a little as opposed to just work all the time. This is how it works for me. I take time out, stop work and then go back to work. I am fortunate that I can take time off from what I do for a living. I have family spread across the world. I have sisters who live in the US, so it is easier to take off from the industry for a while,” he explains.

There is another tag often attached to Abhay — that of a recluse. Abhay smiles and says, “I suppose you can say that, but I am not trying to be reclusive. I have been around for 10 years and kept a low-key profile. I do not dwell too much on anything to affect me positively or negatively. I let my work speak for itself.” At the moment, he is reading scripts and has zeroed in on one. But, he won’t talk about it until an official announcement is made. Abhay says he is also open to doing short films and web shows. And there is a long- standing ambition to work with uncle, Dharmendra, and cousins, Sunny and Bobby Deol too. Can we expect a collaboration in the near future? “Well, it all depends on the people making the film and how comfortable I am working in it apart from the storyline,” Abhay signs off.