Abhay Deol, who dons many hats (actor, producer, art lover), recently made his debut as a DJ at a newly opened arcade, Ballers Ahmedabad on Sindhu Bhavan Road, Ahmedabad. The Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (ZNMD) actor tells us, “I love music and used to make mixtapes as a child. I learnt how to work on a DJ console, and this was a natural progression. Now, I can mix the music that I have collected over the years and play it.”

He adds, “I feel humbled by the response I received for my gig. Amdavadis are really warm.” Will he do a DJ tour now? “It is a hobby and I will be back to shoot for films soon. But as a DJ, I feel more confident now to perform in front of people. So, if I get offers, I may be up for it unless I am busy.”

Is it a conscious choice to choose films that aren’t exactly mainstream? He says, “I am always attracted to scripts that are relatable, insightful yet entertaining. I choose films that aren’t completely arthouse or completely mainstream. Be it Socha Na Tha, Dev D, Oye Lucky Lucky Oye or ZNMD, all my films have managed to strike a perfect balance between the two.”

Abhay, who has done independent movies like Road, Movie, adds, “Also, I don’t label films as mainstream or independent. For me, the subject is the main thing. When we use words like ‘independent’ for a film, it means it wasn’t mainstream, and was difficult to make and sell. I make movies that usually don’t get made. They get labelled as independent films as they don’t have the backing of big producers, distributors or directors. Even Ek Chalis Ki Last Local, Oye Lucky… were called independent films back then but had a big producer backed them, that wouldn’t be the case.”

Abhay recently wrapped up the film Bun Tikki, which also stars Zeenat Aman and Shabana Azmi. Both the actresses have worked extensively with his uncle Dharmendra, whom he lovingly calls ‘papa’. Abhay says, “I had a great time. Zeenat Aman is the most warm, sweet, and polite person you will meet, and extremely professional. I have also known Shabana for a while. Zeenat ji feels papa is a gentleman, while Shabana is fond of him too. They remembered the good old days of working with him.”

Having played unconventional characters, does he feel people expect that from him now? Abhay says, “I feel an actor’s image is built organically. I have always experimented with my characters. So, if my image is that I experiment with my roles, and people say they love my choices, it’s a blessing. I feel humbled. I want to do challenging roles-things that I haven’t done before.”

In recent times, Abhay has spoken about how he could have done certain things (like handling fame after Dev D) differently in his career. Elaborating on it, he shares, “When you are young and inexperienced, you are ignorant about certain things. As we grow up, we deal with the same situations in a more mature way. I was a rebel, but I am more diplomatic now. Being rebellious got me this far, as it was difficult to make the kind of movies I wanted. While the movies I made between 2005 and 2007 are considered relevant today, it was hard to make them back then. Now, I feel that being diplomatic is going to take me ahead.”

Abhay, who has done OTT projects like JL50 and Trial by Fire, believes there is room for improvement (for OTT platforms). He says, “When a medium is new, it has nothing to lose and you can experiment with everything. But once you grow bigger, you have a certain responsibility, and you tend to take fewer risks. When organizations prioritize business over creativity, the downfall begins. So, I hope that platforms can evolve more because I feel it’s time to be bold and take risks once again.”

In an industry where a lot of actors prefer diplomacy over frankness and prefer to follow the herd mentality, Abhay Deol has always stood by his own rules. He has a mind and a voice of his own that don’t crumble under pressure. And, of course, his choice of movies and other projects strongly reflect his belief and thought process. In an interview with Bombay Times, the actor talks about his career, beliefs, choices and how the industry accommodated him though he dared to do things differently. Excerpts:

In our space, speaking up can be mistaken as disrespect. All you are doing is speaking your mind and being honest. No one’s there to tell you whether you are right or wrong. You are just frowned upon, but that’s okay. I don’t think I was labelled as a troublemaker, so I would say the film industry has been accommodating towards me.

They may not have agreed with my methods, but they respected the stands I took. It’s highly possible that I may have lost work because of my outspokenness, but that’s okay. It’s just the consequence of you being you. There will always be work. It’s been 17 years, and I am still around. People like my work and I feel grateful. I have no regrets, anger or bitterness towards anyone. I am in a good space, and so is the industry.

I did find myself out of place. I was born in the industry, so I am very much an insider, but I became an outsider. However, I can’t be considered an outsider because I was born into a film family. So, I am neither here nor there. There was a learning process for me. I still don’t necessarily fit in, but there are a lot more people like me in the industry today than at the time that I started out. Time heals everything. I am glad I stuck to my guns.

It wasn’t difficult getting into the role because the tragedy was so hard…. The pain of losing a child. So maybe you can imagine what your parents would go through if you had died. None of that is easy to deal with. Falling into that sort of tragedy because it’s a true story was easy, but getting out of that zone was difficult. This was a real incident; these are real people. You are not portraying fiction, so you can empathise and understand these people easily. It was hard to get out of it because you couldn’t shake off the fact that you just reenacted a trauma that some people went through.

There’s a lot more of provocation, experimentation and bringing out individual artistes and their voices today than when I started out. Getting non-formulaic movies made back then was more difficult. I mostly worked with directors at the beginning of their career because they were the ones with the freshest ideas. They weren’t under the pressure of commercial constraints. I came up with more indie movies because when I was working on them, the multiplexes were just coming up. For a brief period, there was experimentation so I could bring out films like Dev D, Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd, Ek Chalis Ki Last Local, Oye Luck! Lucky Oye and Manorama Six Feet Under. Once the multiplexes were established and stopped expanding, things went back to what they were before, which means less experimentation. With the OTT platforms coming in, they have opened doors for people like myself too.