Sunny Deol says remakes don't work in Bollywood because they lack 'soul' of the original: 'They turn out to be messy'

Sunny Deol has said he avoids working in remakes because they tend to be messy as the original films have ‘souls’, which they tend to lack.

In his four-decade-long career, Sunny Deol has largely stayed away from working in remakes, barring a few. He has seen his fair share of sequels from Nigaahein and Yamla Pagla Deewana 2 as well as the upcoming Apne 2 and Gadar 2. But barring a few films like Champion, he has shunned remakes. In a recent interview, Sunny opened up about his general dislike for the concept.

Sunny Deol poses during a promotional event for his upcoming film Chup, in Mumbai, Sept. 10, 2022. (PTI)

Sunny made his debut in 1983 with Betaab and over the years, has worked in several successful films including Arjun, Ghayal, Border, and Gadar. He admitted in a recent interview that he looks for ‘original and fresh’ content, which remakes do not give him.

Speaking with Pinkvilla, Sunny said, “I always look for something different. I am fed up of making remakes, for instance. I must have done one or two of those. But, I prefer something fresh. Let us discover and see what it turns out to be. Most of the times when we do remakes also, they turn out to be messy because the (original) film had a soul. And somehow we missed that.”

The actor added that he had been lucky to get different and fresh films when he started in the 80s. “When I came in to the industry, my dad (Dharmendra), Amit ji (Amitabh Bachchan), Shatru ji (Shatrughan Sinha), all these actors were there. Cinema was of a different genre. And I came with Betaab, Arjun, Yateem and all these were different. I was enjoying doing that and was fortunate enough that the directors and writers were looking at that. They found me and I found them and it kind of moved ahead,” he said.

Sunny will soon be seen in Chup: Revenge of the Artist, where he plays a cop. The R Balki film also stars Dulquer Salmaan and Shreya Dhanwanthary and is described as an ode to Guru Dutt and his cult classic Kaagaz Ke Phool. It is set to be released on September 23.