The tag of being underrated refuses to leave Abhay Deol, who turns 45 today. Ever since he made his debut in Bollywood with Socha Na Tha in 2005, he has taken the less trodden path, giving us films such as Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! (2008), Dev.D (2009), Manorama Six Feet Under (2007), and more.

We ask him if he is big on birthdays, and he says, “I am not at all a birthday person! I stopped celebrating it after I turned 25.”

Which is why the actor doesn’t make any special plans. Others, however, end up making plans for him. He continues, “Usually, friends come over, and something happens organically. Those are the best birthdays.”

Deol’s stance towards the tags given to him remains that he doesn’t mind them. His journey as an actor started with directors who were all pretty new. “I had to create opportunities, they weren’t coming in the early part of my career because people wouldn’t put money behind those films. My first five films were with debutant directors,” he recalls.

He adds that as far as ‘underrated’ or ‘overrated’ is concerned, “it’s better to be called underrated than overrated for sure (laughs)”. “I know that the reason I can do what I want to do, have the freedom to go where I want to go, and be who I want to be is because I didn’t play the star game,” he says.

Deol adds, “I didn’t invest a lot of money in marketing myself, or become a part of a clique, that I would catapult myself off the backs of my co-stars, directors or producers. I stood on my own.”

But the actor says it doesn’t matter. “At least I am happy doing what I do. I have grown up around fame and seen it in my family (Abhay is Dharmendra’s nephew). I was never enamored by it. Just because you are successful doesn’t necessarily mean you are happy,” he quips.