Bobby Deol completes 25 years in Bollywood and his elder brother, action star Sunny Deol, fondly recalls seeing him grow up in the film industry over the years.
Sunny, who was already at the peak of superstardom in 1995 when Bobby took his Bollywood bow with Rajkumar Santoshi's Barsaat, has been a steady voice of reason and guidance for his younger brother, in an industry where pitfalls and failure are as commonplace as glamour and fame.
"I always told him to be disciplined, get up early, be active and do workouts. Bob at that age was more into parties and stuff. I would discourage him from all that. He has grown up. Earlier, he used to be with me on the shoot at times, my dad's shoot also. He had groomed himself," Sunny told IANS.
Bobby has had his share of rough patches during his silver jubilee run. Today, when he finds a resurgence thanks to his emphatic performance in Prakash Jha's recent web series Aashram, Sunny says he is happy to see his younger brother embark on second innings.
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"This is what he wanted to do. This is his passion. He had done a shot in 'Dharam-Veer' (the 1977 superhit starring their father Dharmendra). Bobby has been a boy who deserves far more than what he has got. I am so happy right now -- with his second innings and the way people are loving him," said Sunny.
"He has adapted well. That's why his second innings has taken off. He knows how to tackle things right now," Sunny added.
Bobby's hits over the years include Gupt, Soldier, Baadal, Bichhoo, and Humraaz. He has had his share of low points too, with duds like Tango Charlie, Jhoom Barabar Jhoom and Players. There have been much-hyped multitaskers in recent years like Race 3 and Housefull 4 that did not help his career much. And yet, he has found a resounding return thanks to the OTT wave in Aashram. He was also the star of the Shah Rukh Khan-produced digital film, Class Of '83.
Bobby's debut film Barsaat was a home production of the Deol banner, Vijayta Films. Getting nostalgic about the launch, Sunny shared: "We wanted to launch Bobby only through our production house. He was raring to go. We were looking for a young generation-centric film."
"The project required different picturesque locations. We went to Manali, Bengaluru, Mysore, Mumbai and London," recalled Sunny.
There aren't just pleasant memories associated with the film. "When we were shooting abroad, he met with an accident. It was a nightmare for me because we were in a jungle. There was no hospital around. He had broken his leg and was in pain. That night was the longest I had," Sunny recalled.