Abhay Deol

)[1], known as Abhay Deol, is an Indian actor and producer, who works predominantly in Hindi language films.. Born in the influential Deol family of the Hindi cinema, he began acting at a young age in theater productions at his school. Deol made his on-screen debut in 2005 with Imtiaz Ali's romantic comedy Socha Na Tha.

Abhay Deol
Deol in 2015
Born	Abhay Singh Deol (1976-03-15) 15 March 1976[1] Mumbai, Maharastra, India
Nationality	Indian
Occupation	Actor Producer
Years active	2005–present
Parent(s)	Ajit Singh Deol Usha Deol
Relatives	See Deol family

Abhay Singh Deol born 15 March 1978

After the modest success of his debut, Deol was praised for his performances in films such as Manorama Six Feet Under (2007), which won him the Best Actor Award at the Indo-American Arts Council Film Festival, and the commercially successful Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! (2008). His breakthrough role came in 2009 with the starring role as Dev in Anurag Kashyap's Dev.D, a modern-day adaptation of the Bengali classic novel Devdas. Following the success of the film, Deol gained wider recognition. He also played the lead opposite Sonam Kapoor in the ensemble romantic comedy-drama Aisha (2010).

Deol mainly appeared in independent films early in his career, but that changed in 2011 when he starred in Zoya Akhtar's Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, a road film that went to become one of the highest-grossing films in Bollywood. His performance was well-received and earned him his first nomination for Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor. Deol has since appeared in commercially successful films including the romantic drama Raanjhanaa (2013), and the romantic comedy Happy Bhag Jayegi (2016), while simultaneously working in independent films including the drama Road, Movie (2010) and the war film Chakravyuh (2012).

Deol is noted for his portrayal of complex characters on screen, and is vociferous in his support for parallel cinema in India. He has often been labeled as a nonconformist or an unconventional actor by Indian media. Deol owns a production company, Forbidden Films which was established in 2009. In addition to his acting career, he is also an active philanthropist and supports various NGOs.

Early life

Deol was born into a Jat family to Ajit Singh Deol and Usha Deol.[2][3] He is the nephew of actor Dharmendra, and the cousin of Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol, Esha Deol and Ahana Deol.[4][5] Abhay Deol stated in an interview with Rediff that he is into acting not because of his father, but because he was involved in theatre since school. "At 18, I decided to take the plunge. It took me 10 years because I didn't want to leave my education to get into films."[5]

Acting career

Debut and early success (2005–07)

Deol made his film debut in the 2005 Imtiaz Ali's Socha Na Tha, a romantic comedy where he starred opposite Ayesha Takia.[6][7] The film garnered mostly positive reviews from critics and was an average grosser at the box-office.[8] Deol's performance in the film was well received. His second film role was 2006's romantic drama Ahista Ahista opposite Soha Ali Khan. Deol's first 2007 release was the ensemble comedy drama Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. which emerged as a box-office success.[9] Deol had two more releases in the year, the crime film Ek Chalis Ki Last Local and the thriller Manorama Six Feet Under. The latter won the Best Film at the Mahindra Indo-American Arts Council Film Festival in New York City, and Deol won the Best Actor Award.

Breakthrough and rise to prominence (2008–11)

Deol's sole release of 2008 was black comedy film Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!. Directed by Dibakar Banerjee, the film had Deol portray a compulsive thief, Lovinder Singh a.k.a. Lucky, and the film's plot follows his exploits.[10] Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! was met with critical acclaim, but suffered heavily because of the timing of its release, a day after the 2008 Mumbai attacks, leading to widespread fear of crowded places.[11]

Deol's breakthrough role came in 2009 when he portrayed the titular character in Anurag Kashyap's 2009 neo-noir film Dev.D, a modern-day adaptation of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's classic Bengali romance novel Devdas. The idea behind the film was conceived by Kashyap during a conversation with Deol where the latter spoke about a man frequenting a Los Angeles strip club like a "modern day Devdas".[12] Dev.D. received widespread attention for its distinct visual style, experimental soundtrack, and innovative narrative structure which was unprecedented for any Bollywood film.[13] In a 4 out of 5 star review for Times of India, Nikhat Kazmi deemed Deol's performance in the film as a "class act".[13] Deol appeared alongside Tannishtha Chatterjee in Road, Movie.[14] Deol made a cameo appearance for an Item number in the movie Tera Kya Hoga Johnny in 2010.[15] In 2009, Deol launched a production company Forbidden Films, with Junction being the film to be picked up by the banner.[16]

Deol promoting Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara at a UTV event

After a leading role opposite Sonam Kapoor in the ensemble romantic comedy Aisha in 2010, Deol starred in Zoya Akhtar's ensemble comedy-drama road film Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara in 2011 alongside Hrithik Roshan, Farhan Akhtar, Katrina Kaif and Kalki Koechlin. The story follows three friends, who have been inseparable since childhood, had him play the role of Kabir, an architect. They set off to Spain on a bachelor trip for Kabir who is set to be married to Natasha, an interior designer played by Koechlin.[17] He trained to be a deep-sea diver for the film which was filmed in Spain.[18] The film opened to high critical acclaim and grossed ₹1.53 billion (US$21 million) worldwide, surpassing Dhoom 2 in the worldwide gross, becoming the ninth highest worldwide grosser of all time for a Bollywood film, at the time of its release. Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara won Best Film among other awards, and Deol received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the film.[19][20]

New career moves and fluctuations (2012–present)

Deol had two releases in 2012, both of which were political thrillers– Dibakar Banerjee's Shanghai and Prakash Jha's Chakravyuh. In the latter, Deol starred alongside Arjun Rampal as a police informer, but later gets involved in a Naxalite movement.[21] The film received mixed reviews from film critics.[21] Shanghai co-starring Emraan Hashmi and Kalki Koechlin was based on the French novel Z by Vassilis Vassilikos.[22] The film opened to positive reviews and Deol's performance as a bureaucrat/IAS officer garnered much acclaim.[23] Raja Sen of Rediff.com applauded Deol writing, "he wears his inscrutability thickly and delivers a strong performance".[22] The film was a surprise hit and went on to gross over ₹200 million (US$2.8 million) in India.[24][25]

In the media

Deol has been described by the Indian media as an actor who continuously understands how to play complex characters.[2][26] He has appeared on the several magazine covers including the Man's World and the Time Out Mumbai, with titles such as "The New Face of Indian Cinema". In 2009, Deol was included in the list of Zoom's "50 Most Desirable Hotties", being placed seventh.[27] Deol learned the Israeli martial art Krav Maga.[28] He has expressed feminist views on social media[29] and has also been vocal about minority and migrant rights in India.[30]

Filmography

Key

Denotes films that have not yet been released

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2005	Socha Na Tha	Viren Oberoi
2006	Ahista Ahista	Ankush Ramdev
2007	Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd.	Aspi
	Ek Chalis Ki Last Local	Nilesh Rastogi
	Manorama Six Feet Under	Satyaveer Singh Randhawa
2008	Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!	Lovinder 'Lucky' Singh
2009	Dev.D	Dev
2010	Road, Movie	Vishnu
	Tera Kya Hoga Johnny	Himself	Special appearance in song 'Shaher Ki Rani'
	Aisha	Arjun Burman
2011	Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara	Kabir Dewan	Playback singer for the song Señorita
2012	Shanghai	T. A. Krishnan
	Chakravyuh	Kabir
2013	Raanjhanaa	Jasjeet Singh Shergil
	The Lovers	Udaji	English-language film
2014	One By Two	Amit Sharma	Also co-producer
2016	Happy Bhag Jayegi	Bilal
2018	Nanu Ki Jaanu	Nanu
	Zero	Aditya Kapoor
2019	Chopsticks	Artist	Netflix Film
	Hero	Mahadev	Tamil Debut
	Line of Descent	Officer Raghav	Movie released on Zee5
2020	What Are The Odds	Valmik	Also producer[31]
	Bounty Hunter		Also co-producer[32][33]
	Idhu Vedhalam Sollum Kadhai	King Vikramaditya	Tamil

Awards and nominations

Year	Film	Award	Category	Result
2007	Manorama Six Feet Under	Indo-American Arts Council Awards	Best Actor	Won
2010	—	BIG Star Entertainment Awards	New Talent of the Decade (Male)	Nominated
2012	Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara	Filmfare Awards	Best Supporting Actor	Nominated
		IIFA Awards	Best Supporting Actor	Nominated
		4th Mirchi Music Awards	Upcoming Male Vocalist of The Year for "Senorita"	Nominated[34]
2014	Raanjhanaa	Producers Guild Film Awards	Best Actor in a Supporting Role	Nominated

References

1. "'Dancer Deol' Abhay turns 37!". Zee News. 15 March 2013. Archived from the original on 30 March 2018. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
2. Heather Wilson (22 June 2013). "Raanjhanaa Review". Cinema Chaat. Archived from the original on 3 March 2014. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
3. Sandhu, Ajay. "Memories with Deol Family". 25 December 2010. Punjabi Portal. Archived from the original on 30 January 2011. Retrieved 22 September 2012.
4. "What's Common Among Sunny, Bobby & Abhay Deol". 14 July 2011. Koimoi. Archived from the original on 3 February 2012. Retrieved 22 September 2012.
5. Patcy N (2 March 2005). "Sunny bhaiyya loves soft toys!". Rediff. Archived from the original on 6 January 2011. Retrieved 17 April 2010.
6. Mukherjee, Tastam (9 August 2016). "Spotting Abhay Deol in KK's Pal will be your WTF moment of the day". India Today. Archived from the original on 2 October 2016. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
7. "Socha Na Tha". Bollywood Hungama. Archived from the original on 3 October 2016. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
8. "Flops galore at Indian box office!". Rediff.com. 8 March 2005. Archived from the original on 21 March 2016. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
9. "Box Office 2007". Box Office India.com. Archived from the original on 8 July 2011. Retrieved 17 April 2010.
10. "Who is Bunty Chor?". India Today. 11 January 2012. Archived from the original on 9 October 2016. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
11. Karaganis, Joe (2011). Media Piracy in Emerging Economies. Carolina: Lulu. p. 369. ISBN 978-0984125746. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
12. "The Inspiration Behind Anurag Kashyap's Films". Rediff.com. 21 June 2011. Archived from the original on 2 October 2016. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
13. Nikhat Kazmi. "Dev D Movie Review". Indiatimes.com. Archived from the original on 16 May 2012. Retrieved 5 February 2009.
14. "I try to fight off labels: Abhay Deol". The Hindu. PTI. 4 March 2010. Archived from the original on 11 July 2011. Retrieved 22 June 2012.
15. "Abhay Deol turns item boy in 'Tera Kya Hoga Johnny'". Entertainment.in.msn.com. 14 December 2010. Archived from the original on 29 March 2012. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
16. "Abhay Deol wants to chart the forbidden territory". The Indian Express. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
17. Press Trust of India (27 April 2010). "Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara cast and crew". NDTV. Archived from the original on 18 January 2012. Retrieved 28 June 2011.
18. Sharin Wader Butani (10 April 2010). "Abhay making a splash". Times of India. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 17 April 2010.
19. BOI Trade Network (3 February 2012). "Top Worldwide Grossers ALL TIME: 37 Films Hit 100 Crore". Box office India. Archived from the original on 5 February 2012. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
20. "Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara reviews". Archived from the original on 13 December 2017. Retrieved 27 August 2012.
21. "'Chakravyuh' Gets Mixed Reaction; Arjun Rampal Impresses Critics". International Business Times. 26 October 2012. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
22. Sen, Raja (8 June 2012). "Review: Shanghai, a frighteningly fine film". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 2 October 2016. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
23. Kumar, Manoj (10 June 2012). "Abhay Deol's Shanghai Gets Rave Reviews From Film Critics". International Business Times. Archived from the original on 2 October 2016. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
24. Thakkar, Mehul (13 June 2012). "Shanghai surprises Bollywood trade gurus". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 2 November 2017. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
25. "Shanghai Box Office". Bollywood Hungama. Archived from the original on 16 June 2016. Retrieved 29 May 2016.
26. NDTV (25 October 2013). "Chakravyuh Review". NDTV. Archived from the original on 31 January 2013. Retrieved 28 August 2013.
27. Madhureeta Mukherjee (8 January 2010). "Ranbir is India's most desirable". Times of India. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 17 April 2010.
28. Hiren Kotwani (14 December 2009). "Abhay Deol's new moves". Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on 22 January 2011. Retrieved 17 April 2010.
29. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2 July 2018. Retrieved 1 July 2018.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
30. "Abhay Deol slams 'woke Indian celebrities' talking about black lives but not minorities, migrants in India". Hindustan Times. 3 June 2020. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
31. "Watch the Trailer for What Are the Odds?, Out This Week on Netflix". NDTV Gadgets 360.
32. "Abhay Deol to co-produce Bounty Hunter". November 24, 2013. India Today. Archived from the original on 27 November 2013. Retrieved 28 November 2013.
33. "Abhay Deol to co-produce Hollywood film 'Bounty Hunter'". November 24, 2013. Indian Express. Archived from the original on 28 November 2013. Retrieved 28 November 2013.
34. "Nominations - Mirchi Music Award Hindi 2011". 30 January 2013. Archived from the original on 30 January 2013. Retrieved 24 May 2018.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)

External links

• Abhay Deol on IMDb
• Abhay Deol biography at Koimoi