Bobby Deol is experiencing a remarkable career resurgence and is celebrating 30 years in the film industry with a series of acclaimed performances that have reshaped his standing in Bollywood.
Bobby Deol, son of legendary actor Dharmendra and younger brother of star Sunny Deol, made his debut in 1995 in a lead role with ‘Barsaat’ and enjoyed early success, but went through a career slump. But the advent of streaming platforms has given actors a second act, allowing them to explore complex and unconventional roles that are a far cry from their traditional larger-than-life characters.
Deol said in an interview with Variety that the fan response remains extraordinary. “It’s kind of overwhelming to receive so much love and to continue to receive more and more love from our viewers. What better way to celebrate 30 years, especially with our fans. Also launching such a huge and successful web series, The Ba***ds of Bollywood.”
The actor believes the streaming platform has fundamentally changed the trajectory of his career. “OTT platforms have changed everything. It has given me the first chance to do something different,” he says. His Netflix film Class 83 (2020), set in 1980s Mumbai, was the beginning, a gritty police drama. But it was his Amazon MX player series Aashram, in which he played an evil godman, that truly changed perceptions. “It was released a week later, but the shadow of Class 83 has completely disappeared. Even now, every time I meet Prakash ji, I can’t accept the film. But it took me a long time to accept the fact that what he saw in me cast me in the role of Baba Nirala.”
This role showed the industry that he was capable of more than his initial career suggested. “That’s when it all started, because people started trusting me as an actor. Bobby doesn’t have to be just what I looked like early in my career; he can play a lot of different characters,” he says.
Deol’s performance as a mute antagonist in Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s violent crime story Animal (2023) was pivotal to his comeback, leading directly to his collaboration with Anurag Kashyap in the graphic prison drama Bandar, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in September. After the release of ‘Animal’s’, Kashyap called Deol and spoke to him for 45 minutes and expressed his admiration for his evolution as an actor. Deol was excited and at the same time nervous about the recognition from the film director he had admired for so many years.
“Bandal” (monkey in a cage)
Saffron Magic Works Private Limited
“I’ve wanted to work with Anurag for years,” says Deol, recalling their various encounters over the decades, from visiting Anurag’s house when Kashyap was still a writer, to chance encounters at children’s martial arts events and gyms. “As a director, I’ve always loved his work and he always brings something different out of every actor he works with.”
The night before the first day of shooting Bandar, he had trouble sleeping. “I feel like I’m asking myself, ‘What did I do that made Anurag want to work with me?'” At 3 a.m., he turned on Netflix and watched “Animal” again, trying to understand what others saw in his performance. “I still didn’t understand it, because obviously as an actor, things change in your life and things you’ve been looking forward to, you can’t understand a certain time when that moment will happen. It’s like unreal. It’s like a dream.”
After just an hour’s sleep, Deol headed to the set and the experience there was transformative. “Working with Anurag was like being in a workshop. I always give myself completely to my director, but working with Anurag was like going to this acting coach and being with him and giving myself. No inhibitions, nothing. Just giving myself completely.”
Kashyap’s communication style enabled that vulnerability. “I think it’s because of the way he communicates with the actors, and I think that’s why people enjoyed my work on this movie, because for me it was completely outside of my image, everything about me.”
This process allowed him to learn more about himself. “Every time I work on a project, I start to understand different aspects of my emotions,” he says. The film was completed in just 23 days.
Bandar was Deor’s first film festival premiere in celebration of the city’s 50th anniversary. He also represented his father at the festival’s Golden Jubilee celebration of one of the greatest Indian films of all time. “I never imagined going to a film festival. I mean, I never thought my film would premiere there,” he says. “And what better way to celebrate? This year is TIFF’s 50th anniversary and I also had the opportunity to represent Sholai on my father’s behalf at Sholai’s 50th anniversary. It felt like being in India.”
Deol’s decision to join the Netflix series The Ba***ds of Bollywood, the directorial debut of Aryan Khan, son of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, and a behind-the-scenes drama that explores the behind-the-scenes of the Hindi film industry, was born out of a sense of industry solidarity and parental empathy. “Being a parent myself and coming from this industry, I want someone to be there for my sons as they enter this industry,” he says. “I know Shah Rukh is the kind of person who would support me and a lot of people I know in my industry. I felt that positivity and emotion, so when I got the call, I just said I’m doing it.”
“Bollywood Idiots”
Netflix
What started as assistance became more substantial after lengthy talks with Aryan Khan. “I sat with him for seven hours and listened to the entire story, which was seven episodes in total, and I was just fascinated by his beliefs, his writing, his thoughts, his maturity,” he says. “Whenever you talk to a director, you expect them to read the script to you. But when you sit down with them and listen to the narration, you get a better sense of what the director is visualizing. So I think I just got lucky.”
Deol admires Khan’s approach to the material. “Whatever this show is, it’s all because of Aryan. I think that kid has done a great job, being so mature, his beliefs, his instincts, his fearlessness, and giving something that’s so different but so relatable. It’s about what you’ve seen, but at the same time, it’s a very different approach.”
He argues that the series’ success lies in its comprehensive storytelling. “I think all the characters in the show are memorable, not just one. That rarely happens. All the actors try so hard, only when the writing is good and the directing is good. But you only see it when the captain of the ship can bring it out.”
This series explores the mythology and reality of Bollywood in a very insider way. “I think it’s just making fun of myself in a way. It’s just being completely open,” he says. “At the end of the day, this is fiction. So how do you entertain people? You bring out the elements, you show the elements, and people discuss it and get excited about it. In fact, ‘The Ba***ds of ‘Bollywood’ is a show based on all the myths of the Bollywood industry, because you can’t write a story without some truth behind it. But most of the stories that are made for movies and OTT platforms have to be fictionalized, because it makes them more appealing and more interesting.
Asked whether his experience with career setbacks while being born into the industry has given him unique insight into how Bollywood deals with talent, Deol offers a cautious perspective. “I think that’s true in any industry, any profession. Being an insider has been lucky for me because I was born into this family. I never wanted to be born into this family.” He notes that his father was an outsider and struggled for years before his first break.
“Definitely being an insider, I have experienced ups and downs and learned from them. So, yes, I am lucky to be Dharmendra’s son and I am very proud of it,” he says. “But at the same time, it’s not easy for everyone. You can be an insider or an outsider. You have to work hard. The only thing parents do for their children is use their own money to set you up. They want their children to have a very happy life, so they spend every penny creating things for their children. But then you have to make every penny worth it with your own efforts.”
His journey from a strong start through difficult years to his current resurgence has special meaning as his elderly parents have witnessed it. “I’m happy that I overcame a great start and a bad middle and now I’m back to a certain level of success. And I’m very proud that my parents saw that, because my parents are getting older and I wanted them to be like that too,” he says.
“I always thought I could never live up to my father’s expectations. I was always little Bob, the youngest in the house, my father’s golden child, because at the end of the day, you’re the youngest and you end up receiving all the love,” he added.
The turning point came with his father’s approval. “The biggest compliment I ever received was from my dad four or five years ago. He said, ‘You’ve figured out who you are as an actor,’ and ‘I’m so proud of you.’ That’s what I wanted to hear, so I think it made me feel really happy and I’m really proud of that.”
Having experienced single-screen theaters, multiplex waves and now streaming, Deol remains format agnostic. “In that sense, I never think about what media I’m going to be in. For me, things have evolved because times are changing. You have to move with the times. So you have to do things with the times, because in order to exist, you have to be in sync with what’s going on.”
Still, he misses the communal experience of single-screen movie theaters. “The magic of a single screen is something else. I grew up watching movies on a single screen and watched people go crazy. The atmosphere of a single screen is something you become completely part of when you’re sitting in the theater.”
Nevertheless, he accepts evolution. “But multiplexes had to come. Times had to evolve. And OTT platforms. I’m really happy that OTT platforms exist because it changed my life. And I think they can all coexist. Creators have to be honest with their work and do their best.”
Deol also expresses nostalgia for the earlier days of filmmaking. “I always wish I had been born in the 30s. Then I could have become an actor in the 50s and enjoyed my golden years and been a part of everything that was being done for the first time, because there was so much honesty and sincerity and passion.” Although he hasn’t experienced it himself, he has heard stories from his father about the kind of filmmakers and the integrity that permeated that era.
Today’s landscape is different. “But now people have changed. They have evolved. The world is getting tougher and tougher, so everyone has a tougher life. So you don’t have time to have fun other than watching something on your phone or laptop or sitting somewhere and waiting in a lounge. But I’m really happy that I’ve had so much fun these past 30 years. And I’m so lucky that I’m still doing what I love the most.”
Looking ahead, Deol is set to release his latest film in producer Aditya Chopra’s YRF spy universe ‘Alpha’ on December 25th, directed by Shiv Rawail, son of Rahul Rawail who directed his brother Sunny Deol’s first film ‘Betab’ (1983). “Rahul directed my brother’s first film and now his son Shiv is directing his first film and I am also a part of it, so it will be special.”
Deol thinks about directing from time to time, but admits it is not his calling. “I wish I could direct. All actors sometimes wish they could direct, because when you’re an actor you start imagining and thinking about how the story moves, how the character will react, how the person will act. But I’m not a controlling person. I can’t multitask. So I wish I could be a director, but there’s no way I can.”
His focus now is to continue pushing the boundaries. “I’m really happy that the audience helped me. Because of the love they gave me, I’m now given the opportunity to work outside of my comfort zone. And continue to surprise myself and surprise the audience with what I can do. That’s what I want.”