FILM INTERVIEW: ABHAY DEOL
Son of Dharmendra, Like Daughter of Anil Kapoor, Grows the Hard Way
Abhay Deol and Sonam Kapoor are not that different when one really thinks about it. Both are related to Bollywood megastars, with Sonam being Anil Kapoor’s daughter and Abhay the nephew of Dharmendra. Also, both actors experienced slow starts to their respective film careers. Two years before Sonam failed to make box-office waves with Abhishek Bachchan in Delhi-6, it was Abhay who struggled to fill up the cash box in the 2005 flop Socha Naa Tha. Of course, things eventually worked out, as Abhay starred in films such as Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! and Dev D before landing a starring role opposite Sonam in Rajshree Ohja’s Aisha, which is based upon Jane Austen’s novel Emma and is co-produced by Sonam’s father Anil Kapoor and sister Rhea Kapoor.
“My plan was to begin with a film like Socha Na Tha and then in films like Ek Chalis… or Manorama. It was unfortunate that my earlier films flopped at the box office,” Abhay told the press as he promoted Aisha earlier this week. “I wasn’t perceived as a successful actor, and my career didn’t make people stand up and say that, ‘Oh God, let’s check out this guy.’”
Of course, Dev D and Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! changed his outlook, but Abhay said those films may not have happened if it weren’t for the early career struggles. With the poor box office showings of films like Socha Na Tha, Abhay was in a position to take greater risks in order to avoid being typecast as an actor who lacks box office draw, therefore translating into a potentially short career in Bollywood.
Those greater risks were to stay in films such as Dev D and Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!, both of which were critically acclaimed and financially successful.
“All of this was only a blessing in disguise because now I could start taking further risks. I could afford to do films like Dev D and Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! because taking such risks was worthy enough,” he candidly told the press. “As for some of my earlier films, it was because of my naivety and gullibility that they saw such disappointing releases. I was so clueless about marketing. But now I have learned as I have moved along.”
Move along he did, as the actor said he finally started to get into a grove after coming to terms with the lack of success of his first few projects. Yet throughout, Abhay was always about being different, so even though the right roles finally started coming his way, the approach to acting never really changed.
“When I did Socha Na Tha and Ahista Ahista at the beginning of my career, I did try doing something different. Yes, these were not films that fell under the conventional cinema bracket, but then these were not absolutely radical either,” he said. “The change, actually (for the better), started with Ek Chalis Ki Last Local and Manorama – Six Feet Under.”
With five years and some positive momentum finally under his belt, Abhay finally feels he found his stride in Bollywood, and he is doing all he can to maintain the now solid reputation as a solid actor.
“Honestly speaking, five years back, I always wanted to do stuff that was going to be non-Bollywood. I carried this sense right from my childhood days,” Abhay, who is currently working on Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, candidly informed the press. “However, don’t take me wrong. I was never like, ‘Hey, I am different so things have to move my way.’ I had to enter the industry and see if I can act and then also demonstrate it to people. After that, I put down rules for myself around what I could do and perhaps couldn’t do.”
While he did not specifically share with the press what those rules were, Abhay did say he hopes the risks he took are already paying dividends with his audiences.
“I have faith in the people who like my work because they have been coming to watch my films time and again,” he told the press. “These are thinking audience(s) and (they) would tell me regardless of whether they like my film or not. In that sense, I am very secure because these are sensible audiences to deal with.”
Hopefully that trust and security is already in place, as the much-anticipated film Aisha hits screens worldwide this weekend.
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