Bobby Deol: From Hero to Villain, a Star Reborn

Actor Bobby Deol, who will next be seen playing the antagonist in Tamil star Suriya’s film Kanguva, says it was “difficult” to destroy his hero image on screen.

After a dull phase in the late 2000s and early 2010s, Deol experienced a revival with the success of multi-starrers like Race 3 and Housefull 4. His career got a big boost after the Netflix feature film ‘Class of 83’ and Prakash Jha’s web series ‘Aashram’ received critical acclaim.

Last year’s blockbuster “Animal”, in which he played the villain, changed everything for him overnight. There are reports that the actor will appear as an antagonist in the Alia Bhatt starrer Alpha.

Asked if the industry is capitalizing on his villainous avatar, Deol told PTI in a group media interaction: “When you play a role, you are offered similar roles but this has been happening for years. That’s it.” not that it’s happening now. “It was a hard time…changing my image, and finally I changed my image and created characters that were different from each other.”

The actor was speaking on the green carpet of the IIFA Awards 2024 on Saturday, where he won the award for Best Performance in a Negative Role for ‘Animal’.

Deol said he can’t talk about ‘Alpha’ right now and hopes the audience will love him in ‘Kanguva’, which is slated to hit theaters on November 14.

The son of Bollywood veteran Dharmendra, the actor made a promising lead debut in 1995 with Rajkumar Santoshi’s Barsaat opposite another star kid Twinkle Khanna. This was followed by hits like Gupt, Soldier, Ajnabee, Bichhoo and Humraaz before experiencing a dry spell at the cinema.

The actor believes that everyone goes through ups and downs. “I don’t like to look and think, ‘Oh my God! I went through that time’. It is a journey that every person goes through in life. “If you work hard, the day comes when you get some (kind of) recognition,” he added.

On the IIFA Awards stage, Deol also shook a leg with Shahid Kapoor on his popular track ‘Tera Rang Balle Balle’ from 1998’s ‘Soldier’.

(With contributions from agencies.)