Sunny side up, again!
ANUJ KUMAR
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Always angry, forever frowning, the Deols deny their popular image in this freewheeling chat.
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We Don't need too much of media. Sunny Deol
`A man has to be macho... some actors have diluted the aura of stars... Deols have been trapped in the image generated by the media... there is no need to aspire for awards because there are so many and all are sponsored.'
Enter the `Deol-dom' of no ifs and no buts and you find a fuzzy logic happening. Sunny Deol is returning to the marquee after a long hiatus in a lead role with Rahul Rawail's "Jo Bole So Nihaal." If promos are any indication, we are again in for a frowning and finger pointing Sunny bashing the baddies. "No, the film has lots of comic element that I have not done before. It's the story of constable Nihal Singh who is fooled by an international mercenary and the subsequent chase in the U.S. It's a very simple character with whom everybody would like to fall in love. As for the long wait, my back was troubling me for a year. Now I am fit." Sunny has grown beard to bring authenticity to the character. "Jo Bole... " is his third film as a sardar character after "Border" and "Gadar". "I connect well with the place. I remember going to mother's village near Maler Kotla. I know we have a good fan following there, but I don't deliberately ask for sardar characters."
Caught in image
More than two decades old in the film industry, Sunny has not been able to build on the sweet charm he exuded in his romantic debut "Betaab", also directed by Rahul. "Unfortunately, "Betaab" was followed by "Arjun" and later "Dacait" and the media dubbed me as an action hero. People ultimately see you as you are projected. Over the years, I have portrayed different shades. I did "Yateem", "Damini", "Jeet", but in our industry you can't try something extreme from your established image. Distributors also want the aggression part to be highlighted during the promotion. That's why the angry image registers much more."
He continues, "I think the Deols have not been able to handle their PR well. `Gadar', essentially a love story, was dubbed as a Pakistan-bashing film and I was made to feel as if I had done something wrong by signing the film. Even father faced something similar."
Darling Deol
In comes Papa Deol, affirming Sunny's point. "I have done films like `Satyakam' and `Chupke Chupke' but nobody noticed. `Naya Zamana' and `Mera Gaon Mera Desh' were released in the same year, both did well at the box office but the media just highlighted `Mera Gaon... '. It didn't take note of `Naya Zamana', where I didn't touch anybody. We have been projected as if we are ever ready to pump bullets. We are a simple disciplined family which upholds certain principles," defends Dharmendra, who remains the most darling Deol in the popularity stakes. Girls still offer him stoles to be autographed, boys touch his feet in respect, and the common man still wants to be photographed with Dharmendra.
Both smile in unison, "It doesn't affect us much." Says Sunny, "We don't need too much of media. Some actors have made it a habit to be `seen' in the media. They are available 24 hours. I'm not okay with it. The media is also responsible. Earlier only two-three papers and magazines covered films. Now every paper not only covers films, it also puts film personalities on cover pages without any valid reason. News that affects people is no longer there. Everything has become commercial."
Take the talk a little further in the family and Dharmendra says his sons are much more mature than he was at this stage. "Son of a farmer, I came from a village of Punjab and didn't know how the industry worked. But I asked my sons to learn everything. Especially Sunny, he looks after everything. The way he has managed Vijeta Films is really remarkable. Bobby still behaves young. If I go to him with a problem, he would be ready with his own set of problems to share," he quips. One thing that pleases him about Bobby is his dancing talent. "Sunny and I failed to master the steps. He has proved a Deol can dance." As for the young Abhay Deol - Dharmendra's nephew - launched with "Socha Na Tha", Sunny says he is the first Deol trained in acting. Dharmendra terms both Abhay and Bobby as lazy bones, who don't work out as much as expected of Deol scions.
High hopes
Sunny, however, is not happy with the way the performance of family production company. With "Dillagi", "Shaheed " and recently "Socha Na Tha", Vijeta Films has suffered a hat trick of flops. "I am not at all happy. After all it's my responsibility. I had high hopes from `Socha Na Tha'. It got good reviews but didn't do as well at the box office. We are cutting down on the number of films we produce. Right now we are producing one film `Deodhar Gandhi' with me in the title role."
Aren't they missing director Raj Kumar Santoshi, known to be a creation of Vijeta films, giving the family hits like "Ghayal", "Ghatak", "Damini" and "Barsaat" before parting ways? He even made "The Legend of Bhagat Singh" when Sunny was making a film on the same subject. "It hurts but we never believed in contracts curbing the freedom of an individual."
How about all the Deols doing a film together? "We are ready, but where is the script? We don't want to do a film just for the sake of being seen together," sums up Sunny.
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