Renuka Vyavahare (BOMBAY TIMES; October 22, 2019)

Still popular with the ladies, Bobby Deol’s quiet charm and style — long curly hair, glasses and jackets — made him a trendsetter early on in his career. However, somewhere along the way, he disappeared from the scene and is back now, keen to explore his untapped potential as an actor. In a chat with Bombay Times, he tells us about the slip-ups in his career, how he’s coping with the changes in the industry, his upcoming film Housefull 4 and more.

After years of staying away from the limelight, you had to reboot your career a year ago with Race 3, and now, here we are, with another multistarrer, Housefull 4. How is this renewed phase of your career going?
Everybody goes through their own journey. Your life takes a turn at some point or the other. You don’t know if those changes are right or wrong. Eventually, when you realise that you are on the wrong track and if you are sane enough to understand the values that have been imbibed in you by your parents, you get back to your senses. You start getting your focus back. How you cope with the change is what defines you. You learn from your mistakes. If you don’t learn, then you allow the wrong decisions to take you further in the wrong direction. It gets worse. I eventually decided to gear up, change myself and work harder. There’s so much potential in me as an actor. There’s so much more that I can do and offer to the entertainment world. When things don’t go the way you want them to, you start doubting yourself. Are you capable or not? It’s all in your hands. Everyone is capable.

If given a change to undo something, what would be that one thing?
I just wish I was more focused in my life. I wish I knew what competition was and how to face it. I thought everyone has their own space and everyone will get work, but it wasn’t like that. It’s not about being in a rat race; the point is that you need to get work. I have always been a straightforward person. Things like networking and PR, have become a part and parcel of the movie business, which I never indulged in. The world we live in now has become cut-throat. Not that I have become that way, but I do understand that you need to be visible for people to notice that you are interested in working. I am excited that I have changed within the time that I should have. Things are now moving in the right direction. I have become braver. Now, I believe in myself more than I ever did.

Given that you come from a family of movie stars, and huge ones at that, was it ever the case of being too proud to ask for work?
It was never about being too proud to ask for work. Even in those days, if I met a director who I wanted to work with, I would say, let’s work. Now it’s different. You have to be at it. It’s getting more systematic. I never had a PR handling my work, but I have one since the past two years. It’s all about being seen — be it on social media or otherwise. Of course, you also have to also think twice before saying anything on these platforms.

They say it’s a big bad world of movies, and it is especially harder for those who have no industry connection. Do you think that’s changing?
Not just mine, but many kids from the new generation are dying to be a part of the movies, as it’s becoming cleaner and more open. There was a time when people wouldn’t encourage girls to enter films, but that’s changing. People now tutor their kids from childhood, so that they can pursue acting. Also, reality shows are helping children to enter this field. Not everybody can get a chance, but at least some can get noticed.

Govinda once told us that he went wrong by declining films like Gadar Ek Prem Katha, which turned out to be huge hits. He said he couldn’t take up roles that he thought were risky as he didn’t have anyone to fall back on. He said, “Sunny Deol ji is Dharmendra ji’s son. Unkey parivar mein aadha dozen stars hai. Main toh Govinda hoon, aur mujhe apni puri familyko dekhna hain, so it is difficult for me to take risks...”
Every actor decides to do roles, which they think will work, so I don’t believe in that. When you are out there, you are nobody’s son. If the public enjoys your work, you will survive. I don’t agree or disagree with Govinda. He is a great actor. I believe every individual goes through their own journey and makes their own decisions.

Given your father and brother’s image and legacy, do you think the Deol family often gets stereotyped as action stars and are overlooked for other roles?
At the end of the day, the public’s love is your biggest award. Till date, my father hasn’t got a Best Actor award, but if you see his films, every performance is different, and they keep lingering in your mind. The amount of hits he has given in the first 25 years of his career, very few have managed to. He is one of the most successful actors here. As far as stereotyping is concerned, it happens to everyone, like the way it has happened to my father and brother. That’s why I avoided doing action films when I entered the industry. But because of my family name and image, I ended up getting roles that were action oriented. My love stories didn’t do as well.

What made you choose multi-starrers and big-ticket films like Race 3 or a Housefull 4? Does it feel comfortable to be a part of an ensemble cast?
I am glad I have started my career again and I am getting to be a part of these films. They give me an opportunity to do roles that defy my image. It is also a big platform for me because I want to be noticed by the new generation. They haven’t seen much of my work and I need them to know that there is an actor called Bobby Deol. When you take a break for five years, life moves on. New movies come, you have no PR and no one sees you or talks about you. I can now test my capability as an actor and do roles that I otherwise wouldn’t have the guts to do.

Housefull 4 has its own brand of humour. A comedy film is also a tricky genre, it is all about whether the audience gets the humour bang on, or not...
It is tough to play characters in a movie like Housefull 4, because unless the script is not written well, the actors can look silly doing it. I feel the USP of the franchise is Akshay Kumar and Riteish Deshmukh. They have an amazing chemistry. They have done so many films together and have known each other since long. They have a whacky sense of humour on and off the set, and they constantly entertain us.

Your curly hair, dark glasses (which came to be known as Barsaat glasses after your debut film) and leather jackets, made you a trendsetter back then. You’ve always a had a lot of female fans swooning over you, however, you strangely seem unaware of it...
I get embarrassed when I hear this. I didn’t think that my hair or what I wore would become a rage. I just wanted my hair to be long as I loved long hair. I am very chilled out, so I liked the kind of unkempt hair that rock stars and musicians sported. Even in my school days, I would want to keep it long and my teachers would tell me to chop it off. During my debut film Barsaat (1995), I was into sunglasses and I still am. I wanted to wear my personal purple sunglasses for the film, but director Rajkumar Santoshi said, ‘Yeh mat pehennna’. I showed it to our cinematographer Santosh Sivan, and he said, ‘Wear it’. I did it and that’s how that chashma got famous. Also, those days things weren’t easily accessible to everyone, so it was easy to become a trendsetter. Now everything is available to people, which is nice, as they can dress the way they want.

You said this is your second innings in a way. What lies ahead?
I am now open to everything. It’s not easy to get good scripts, so I am still fighting that battle. I love the new brand of movies that Ayushmann Khurrana and Rajkummar Rao are doing. That’s the kind of cinema you want to watch. Even my dad has done such family entertainers with middle-class values, which are funny, but not over the top. But for me to get such films, I need to change my image. The industry still thinks of me as a glamorous guy (from films like Gupt). They always told me I can’t play a poor man’s role. Also, because my films that did well were thrillers in a commercial set-up, which were also glamorous roles, that image of me has stayed. I did try to do films like Vaada Raha, Nanhe Jaisalmer and Kareeb, which were films with a message, but they didn’t work. Now, I am ready to explore roles that I never have.