From Animal to Kanguva: Bollywood star Bobby Deol’s transformation into a gritty star at 55

Gulf News

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00:00Hi everyone, this is Manjusha Radhakrishnan, Entertainment Editor for Gulf News.

00:09I'm here with Bollywood's bad man of the moment, Bobby Deol.

00:13He impressed us in Animal, it was a comeback of sorts.

00:17And he's back with another big one, a warrior epic called Kangooa with Surya.

00:21It's a big one, right?

00:22Your Tamil debut?

00:23Yes, it is.

00:24I mean, I'm just so excited.

00:25I mean, what better way to start your career in the Tamil industry with a film like Kangooa

00:31and to work with Surya, who I'm a big fan of, who's a sweetheart.

00:35He's just an amazing person, you know.

00:37The best part about being on the set was getting to know people and how down to earth and humble

00:42they are, especially Surya.

00:44The whole team, you know, everyone involved in the film was just so warm.

00:48I didn't feel, you know, out of place, they saw to it that I was always, you know, comfortable

00:54and it was just an amazing experience.

00:55Right.

00:56Bobby, this movie was offered before Animal became this huge blockbuster, right?

01:00Yeah, the whole story goes back where they spoke to me in May of the same year and somehow

01:08things didn't work out, but I manifested it.

01:10I said, I have to do this film.

01:12And then suddenly, just before Animal was releasing, it worked out.

01:17I was just so happy, you know, because I believe in manifestation, you know.

01:22So I'm really lucky.

01:23God has been kind and my wishes are coming true in some way.

01:27Very true.

01:28Very true.

01:29I was speaking to Arjun Kapoor yesterday.

01:30He was saying that finally people are like taking me seriously.

01:33Is that the same with you as well?

01:34With Animal, it kind of changed?

01:35I think it changed for me when I started doing OTT platform.

01:38It changed for me when I did films like Class of 83, then I did Ashram, which became a huge

01:43success.

01:44It's the only web series that's the most watched in India.

01:47And then I did Love Hostel.

01:48So that made people notice that I'm capable of more, I think.

01:52And I think it's happening for a lot of actors who work on OTT platform, because OTT platform,

01:57you can take an actor whose image is something else, but make him do something else if they

02:01believe in you.

02:02And I was very lucky.

02:03I mean, out of those three projects I did on OTT, two of them were produced by Red Chilli.

02:08Then Prakashji, I don't know what he saw in me, but he chose me for Ashram.

02:12So things started shifting for me.

02:15People started looking at me differently.

02:16And then Animal happened.

02:20You know, there's no magic like silver screen.

02:22The magic that silver screen creates is something else.

02:25And I needed that.

02:26And I don't know, Sandeep Reddy Vanga, who's a genius of a director, saw something in a

02:32photograph of mine and gave me Animal.

02:34Then I was lucky because I'm trying to do different kinds of films, putting myself out

02:40of my comfort zone.

02:41And when this was offered, it was totally out of my comfort zone, especially because

02:45it's in Tamil.

02:46Also, it's very different.

02:48You know, it's based on a period which is a thousand years back.

02:52Civilization was not fully civilized.

02:54That's why the look, the clothes we're wearing and this are based according to that period

02:59and a very animalistic behavior.

03:01Yeah.

03:02Like a beast.

03:03Yeah, like a beast.

03:04So that's how we behave.

03:05That's the reason why you see the anger in the eyes and the lust in life, body language,

03:09you know.

03:10So it was fun.

03:11It was tough, but it was fun.

03:12Right.

03:13Are you a Game of Thrones fan as well?

03:15Sometimes when I see these, I'm like I'm reminded of it, but I'm sure it's a different thing.

03:18I think there's so much happening out there in the cinematic world that something will

03:24always remind you of something, you know, and something will always encourage you to

03:27do something.

03:28Yeah.

03:29So I think all those kind of movies and shows encourage actors, producers and directors

03:35to create that world.

03:37And Shiva is a genius himself.

03:39I think the most calmest director I've ever worked with.

03:42Really?

03:43Why do you say that?

03:44He's like a chubby big man and he's always calm.

03:48He's got a heart of gold.

03:50He never got angry, never raised his voice.

03:55He had to deal with 3,000 people at the unit plus the whole scenario was there's water,

04:00there's smoke, there's dust, there's a lot of chaos.

04:04But in that chaos to stay so relaxed is amazing.

04:07Right.

04:08You know, and as a visionary, he's created this world because when I was shooting for

04:11this film, there was only blue walls behind me.

04:15And I was like, okay, it's going to look like this.

04:17He says, so you wait and watch when I show it to you.

04:19And then when I see the trailers and the promos, I'm like, God, I was there, you know, and

04:23it's looking totally like as if I was somewhere else.

04:26Right.

04:27It's just amazing.

04:28Right.

04:29Interestingly, at the press con, you said 30 years ago, like you didn't when you began

04:32your career, you were not that I would say ambitious, perhaps, or you were not petty

04:35or petty enough.

04:37My family and we all are very simple people.

04:39I never believed that there was competition.

04:41I always believed that everybody should be working.

04:44Why should I take someone else's work?

04:46But the world was like changing, you know, and there was so much competition, there were

04:49more people coming into the industry.

04:51It just changed, you know, and I just didn't realize that that kind of put me down.

04:58But I think finally, I'm almost 55 right now and suddenly I have this fire that's burning

05:04so strong.

05:05I wish this fire was burning strong from word go.

05:08I love that.

05:09Your career is also a testament to anybody can have a great, you know, rise at no, you

05:15never know, like when your career changes, it shifts track, isn't it?

05:18That's what I keep saying.

05:19Everybody should just have self-belief, you know, if you don't have self-belief, you won't

05:22be able to, no one's going to hold your hand and take you forward.

05:25You have to do it on your own two feet and you just have to stay positive because everybody's

05:31gifted with something by God, you know, you have that special talent, you just need to

05:36tap it.

05:37And I think that's what's happened to me, certainly, you know.

05:40Right.

05:41At 55 to look like this.

05:42Let's just admire him for a second.

05:44It must have not been easy at 55.

05:47I think my whole family is into fitness.

05:49My dad, my brother, the first he-man of the industry was my dad.

05:53And the first strongest man in the industry was my brother.

05:57So I think I had to, you know, match up to their physicality in that sense, because it

06:04is important to be healthy and the older you get, you need to keep working out more because

06:08it keeps you stronger.

06:09Right.

06:10I think that's something I love.

06:13And I realized everything very late in life.

06:15Excellent.

06:16Do you think this is their way of tapping into the northern market, though?

06:20When I looked at it, it looks like, you know, they're trying to rope in viewers from around,

06:24make it more pan-India.

06:25It has become pan-India now, because if you see the amount of films that have come out,

06:29you know, so many films from South are very pan-Indian films.

06:32So I think the trend has changed completely.

06:35It's all because, I mean, sadly, we had to go through the whole COVID and that exposed

06:40a lot of people to watch movies and content on OTT platform and expose them to different

06:46language films, you know, and they realize there's so much there to watch.

06:50I think that's changed.

06:51And even Bhau Bali, when it came, I think that was the beginning of everything.

06:55How physically grueling was this?

06:57Because you roar a lot.

06:58Like you said, it's like a wild animal.

07:00Well, it was, I mean, I mean, people think actor's life is very easy, but it isn't.

07:05It is, when you're on location, it's going to be hot, it's going to be dusty and it's

07:10going to be, you know, like humid.

07:12But here it was created even further.

07:14There was storm fans with smoke being thrown at you and dust being thrown at you.

07:19And then you had to do prosthetics, which took two hours every time you had to get ready.

07:25But it was fun.

07:26It was fun.

07:27Worth it?

07:28Yeah, it was.

07:29It's always worth it.

07:30I think Bhau Bali enjoys his work more because you go through this process of filmmaking

07:34and when you see the end result and the joy you get after seeing that, you know, so you

07:39forget all those days of all that heat and, you know, getting up early and working and

07:46the smoke.

07:47You know, my eyes were watering for the next four months after I shot for this film because

07:51there was so much dust and my nose kept leaking.

07:54And I was like, it's okay.

07:55I was like, because there was so much dust and everything.

07:58You know, you get allergies.

08:00But that's how it is.

08:01Right.

08:02Last question.

08:03Did success teach you more or did your failures teach you more?

08:04I think failure teaches you more.

08:06And success also.

08:07Failure teaches you more about never take success to your head.

08:13And that's what it is because I've seen ups and downs in my life.

08:16I've seen people change in front of me, towards me, and I don't take anything to my head.

08:24I respect everyone.

08:25And I know in the world, they only take you when you're needed.

08:30And that's how it is.

08:31You can't feel bad about it.

08:32Yeah.

08:33Thank you, Bobby, for entertaining us.

08:34Animal was a fun ride.

08:35Thank you so much.

08:36And I hope Kangooa as well.

08:37Thank you so much for your time.

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