Bobby Deol on 'Aashram' and Career Revival: 'Roles Meant for Me Went to Others As I Didn't Knock on Doors'
Bobby Deol talks about how he coped with his bad phase and why only his wife—not even father Dharmendra or brother Sunny Deol—knew that he had signed on 'Aashram'.
Bobby Deol is pushing through exhaustion after a gruelling five-hour interview marathon day. He hydrates himself between breaks, steps out to get some air, and comes back on time to be seated for the next round of interviews. Yet, the actor, who now enjoys a steady stream of roles, exudes gratitude for his current circumstances.
For once there was a phase when he had no work, and was drowning in self-pity.
"If you want something, you have to work for it. You can't just sit on a chair manifesting it," Deol tells The Hollywood Reporter India as he sits down to chat about his show Aashram, a game-changing series for the actor that revived his career three years before he starred in the blockbuster Animal.
Deol debuted with a bang in 1995 with Barsaat and had a string of hits with films like Gupt (1997), Soldier (1998), Badal (2000), and Bichhoo (2000) among others. But by the mid-2000s, Deol was staring at a career slump.
"When I was successful, I never took it to my head; I thought there was space for everybody. But I never realised how competitive my industry was getting at that point in time," the actor reflects on the time when his ratio of successful films plummeted.
Growing up as the son of film icon Dharmendra and brother of Sunny Deol, the actor says he was "sheltered" from the ways of getting work in the industry through networking, which he never quite did.
Also Read | Tabu: 'My Journey Isn't an Act of Rebellion'
"A lot of roles that were supposed to come to me didn't come to me, because the system was changing. Actors were going to people's offices and asking for work. I was never brought up in that manner. I was very sheltered."
"I also made some wrong choices in the films I did. By then the system had changed and I couldn't cope up with that. I went through a bad phase and realised I had to knock on people's doors, meet them, and tell them that I was ready to work. So I started doing that; there is no shame in it."
Deol bounced back to relevance with Salman Khan's Race 3 (2018) followed by the multi-starrer comedy Housefull 4 (2019). A year later, he earned acclaim with the Netflix film Class of '83 (2020), and a week after that dropped Aashram, the Prakash Jha-directed series in which he plays a godman.
"When I did Race 3, I knew people would at least know about my existence. Thanks to Salman, I got to be a part of the film. After that I did Housefull 4, and kids started noticing me because I was doing comedy. But as an actor, I wasn't getting satisfied. I knew that to re-start, I had to do something that would help me move forward."
Aashram, Deol says, was the show that the actor in him was searching for. But there was a risk of going against type and playing a negative character, so he didn't tell his family — including his father Dharmendra — and signed onto the show.
"I was very nervous; I didn't know how people would react to me playing such a negative character. I knew if I played it well, I would get many more opportunities and that's exactly what happened. I didn't tell my mom or dad that I was doing the show, but my wife knew, because she had seen me go through all my ups and downs."
"You need some assurance when you are (taking a risk), and I am fortunate that I have my wife. When I told her about the show, she said, 'I am with you, I know what you are looking for, and I stand by you. I know what you are made of.' I got the most love for Aashram and it continues to pour in," he adds.
The second part of Aashram season three is set to release on Amazon MX Player on February 27.