It’s a ruthless industry: Bobby Deol
The actor who completes 25 years in the Hindi film industry, opens up about his ‘not so perfect journey’, his ups and downs, his “Djing” career, and more
It all began in October 1995, when the Hindi film industry took notice of a young talent who made heads turn with his tall personality, style and looks. Son of veteran actor Dharmendra, Bobby Deol, has surely carved a niche for himself in the industry over the past 25 years of his career. However, the 51-year-old actor does admit that it has “not been a perfect journey”. “Nothing in life is perfect, but at the same time, it has been a wonderful journey. In 25 years, I’ve seen ups and downs and again ups now. That is the journey of every actor. That is why it is tough being an actor. It is not about the work you do, it is about the work you do have to be appreciated. There is no guarantee that every film you do will be a hit,” he says.
Deol, who is known for his roles in films such as Soldier (1998), Badal and Bichoo (2000), says that looking back at the dark days of his life, he says “I was pitying myself”. “I wish I had not taken the support of the wrong things to numb myself. I would never want to pity myself again. When you pity yourself, is when things go wrong,” he shares.
However, Deol states that it is all about “self-realisation”. He adds, “And self-realisation only comes when you look at the world around you and understand that, ‘look you might have been successful, but that doesn’t mean you won’t be succeed again.’ You have to work hard. And I could not set a bad example for my kids and I had to move forward. I wish I had never got into that phase. As I said, my 25 years have never been perfect.”
Ask him what he thinks was the reason for him not getting work during his difficult days, and he says, “What happened was, when things were not going right for me, I kind of I started not taking care of myself and looking fresh. By then social media and digital media was increasing and people started talking about me that, ‘he is not interested’. People thought that I was not interested and to break that it takes a long time.”
Clearing the air about the whole phase of “DJing” Deol states that “it is a thing which was blown out of proportion”. “I had gone to an event and they told me to say that I ‘you are going to play the music tonight’, and I said that I don’t know how to DJ. But they said, ‘no one cares, you just say you are playing the music tonight’. And they made me go and stand behind the DJ console and wear a headphone. When that incident no one spoke about it. After one month someone made something out of it and blew it out of proportion. People still think I a DJ. But I wish I was a DJ and play music,” he says with a laugh.
Speaking about the whole insider-outsider debate, Deol says that the “biggest example of an outsider is my father.” “There will always be this discussion (about insider-outsider) in every industry not just the film industry. I wont say it is easy for an outsider to make it but if you look at the number of outsiders who have made it big in the industry it is quite a bit. I would only want to say that never give up. It is difficult to be an actor. It is a ruthless industry. Nothing is going to be given to you on a silver plate. Yes, if you are an actor then you might be given the first film, but then your work speaks,” he concludes.