‘I imagined that I was addressing my son Dharam’

Bobby Deol on his buddy-buddy relationship with Dharmendra in Yamla Pagla Deewana, in conversation with Roshmila Bhattacharya.

Bobby Deol admits that he had the shivers when told that he would have to replicate the iconic scene from

HT Image

Sholay

in which a drunk Veeru totters on top of a water tank, threatening to commit suicide unless Basanti’s

mausi

(aunt) agrees to their match. “God dude, I can’t do it!” he exclaimed. But director Sameer Karnik was firm, he had to do it.

“On the day of the shoot, Film City was unusually crowded with visitors. And when I looked down from the top of the tank, I saw a sea of faces looking up at me. It made me all the more nervous,” Bobby reminisces.

The scene had a twist to it, with brother Sunny watching the drama from below and pointing out to the 21st century Veeru that such idle threats would not get him the girl today. “We weren’t attempting a spoof but when I saw the scene later on the editing table, I found it quite funny,” admits the actor. Wonder if he’d agree to act in a remake of

Sholay

and Bobby says, “

Sholay

is a milestone, it would be difficult to recreate the magic of Mr Bachchan (Amitabh Bachchan) and dad’s (Dharmendra)

jodi

(pair). That’s why we insisted on dad going solo on

KBC

because we knew that when Jai and Veeru reunited after 35 years, their fans wouldn’t want anyone else.”

However, he agrees that with a really good script,

Sholay

could be reloaded: “Four years before

Sholay

in 1971, dad had acted in a film called

Mera Gaon Mera Desh

in which a reformed criminal helps a one-armed man save a village from dacoits. It celebrated a golden jubilee and inspired

Sholay

, which was one of the biggest grossers ever, with Vinod Khanna’s Jabbar Singh turning into Amjad Khan’s Gabbar Singh.”

Yamla Pagla Deewana

threw up another challenge for the Deol when he was called upon to address his father as

kaminey

(scoundrel), since on screen they share a buddy-budddy relationship. “When alone with a friend, it’s not unusual to fondly call him

kaminey

, but this was dad whom I’d grown up in awe of. I finally got myself to do what was required by imagining that I was addressing my son, Dharam,” he smiles, adding that he’d wanted to name his first-born Dharam but was dissuaded by family members. “But by the time my second son came along, I was determined and no one could stop me. Unfortunately, Dharam junior is a real

badmaash

(notorious).”

Bobby had a blast shooting with his dad. “After a long time, I really enjoyed shooting for a film. All fathers want to be friends with their sons and vice versa but in real life, there are certain

lakshmanrekhas

(lines) that we can’t cross,” he muses. “But as our parents grow older, they lean on us more, become mellow and easy to talk to. That’s how it is with dad and me today.”

Bobby says that they have a sequel for

Yamla Pagla Deewana

in mind depending on the response to the film. “

Bhaiya

(brother Sunny) has always thought ahead of time. He experimented with sync sound in

Dillagi

before it became fashionable. He also wanted to make a

Ghayal 2

at a time when the concept of sequels hadn’t caught on. Let’s see,” he shrugs.

Bobby has two more releases coming up this year,

Thank You

with Akshay Kumar, Irrfan Khan, Suneil Shetty and Sonam Kapoor, and Players with Abhishek Bachchan, Neil Nitin Mukesh and Sonam again, which is the official remake of 1969 hit

The Italian Job

, being directed by Abbas-Mustan. Bobby refuses to divulge which character he’s playing. All he’s willing to say is that his favourite actor from the Hollywood hit is Michael Caine who played the dapper mobster, Charlie Croker. So, is he Charlie? He chuckles, “Wait and watch.”