Happy Birthday Bobby Deol: The actor who never fails to surprise his fans

As Bobby Deol turns a year older today, we take look at how the actor charmed his audience amid all the ups and downs in his career in Bollywood.

Think of Bobby Deol and one is immediately reminded of his dimpled smile and long curly hair from his debut film Barsaat (1995). His charm and performance wooed millions of hearts and made him an overnight sensation. From exploring various genres, to playing both protagonists and supporting roles, from stardom to downfall to making a successful comeback, Deol’s almost three decade long journey in the industry has been an eventful ride. As the actor turns 52 today, we take a look at his career graph:

Actor Bobby Deol’s portrayal of conman preacher Baba Nirala in the OTT series Aashram has earned him accolades.

Romancing into everyone’s heart

Scenes from Barsaat (left) and Kareeb (right)

He announced his Bollywood entry with Rajkumar Santoshi’s romantic action drama Barsaat (1995). Bobby charmed with his expressive eyes and signature long hair that he sported in quite a number of films. Bobby made some more films in the genre including Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya (1997) and Kareeb (1998). His dimpled smile and trendsetter unkempt locks made him the poster boy of romance. In an interview last year, reminiscing his 25 year-long journey Deol revealed about fan adulation, his long tresses would becoming a rage and how fans still request him to grow his locks.

Dabbling into thrillers

Actors Bobby Deol and Kareena Kapoor Khan in Ajnabee.

Be it Gupt: The Hidden Truth (1997), Soldier (1998), Ajnabee (2001), Humraaz (2002) or Naqaab (2007), Bobby generously explored the genre. From being Sahil Sinha, the son who’s a prime suspect in his father’s murder in Gupta, Vicky Sinha/Raju Malhotra avenging his father’s death in Soldier (1998) or Raj Malhotra, conned and wrongly framed for a murder in Ajnabee (2001), the actor’s performances in these films were received well. While he explored other genres too, Bobby has admitted that his romantic and thriller films were way more successful.

Working with family

Bobby Deol has worked with his father, Dharmendra, and brother, Sunny Deol, in quite a number of Hindi films. Their upcoming project is Apne 2 that also stars Sunny’s son Karan Deol.

Deol Junior’s collaborations with father, veteran actor Dharmendra, and brother, Sunny Deol, have mostly done wonders with the audience. As a child actor, he played his father’s younger version in Dharam Veer (1977) and worked alongside Sunny in Dillagi (1999). The Deol trio worked together for the first time in the sports drama Apne (2011) and then the comedy series Yamla Pagla Deewana. Now, in Apne 2, joining the trio would be Sunny’s son Karan Deol. While working with family is enjoyable, Bobby shared that they always maintain a professional approach while filming and was quoted as saying, “…when we are working in films, we are not relatives.”

Fall, rise and comeback

ActorsSalman Khan and Bobby Deol in a still from Race 3.

There came a point when his career started going downhill. When his efforts of revival fell through, he turned to drinking. In 2017, he returned with Shreyas Talpade’s Poster Boys after four years, followed by Race 3 (2018). His chiselled physique became the talk of the town. The actor, who trained under Salman Khan’s trainer Rakesh Udiyar, thanked Khan for his motivation. Deol called the film the turning point in his career.

Taking the web world by storm

Bobby Deol as Baba Nirala in the web series Aashram.

Always ready for new things, Bobby entered the OTT space with Class of ‘83. This Atul Sabharwal directorial saw him play a no-nonsense dean, cop Vijay Singh. Then came Prakash Jha’s Aashram, where Bobby’s portrayal of conman preacher Baba Nirala made everyone sit up and take notice. Overwhelmed with the response around Aashram, Bobby wrote on social media. “#Aashram presented me with an opportunity to explore the unexplored ... never thought that such a negative role will get me such positive response…”

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Author tweets @Shreya_MJ