People thought since I'm not doing any film I became a DJ: Bobby Deol

Mumbai: Bobby Deol has had a glorious fan following through the 90's and early 20002. However, his career went through a serious lull later, and people wrote him off mercilessly. After a sabbatical, the actor is back with Shreyas Talpade's 'Poster Boyz', in which he stars alongside brother Sunny Deol. In an exclusive chat with Deccan Chronicle, the actor was candour personified, baring his heart.

How do you maintain your private lifestyle?

I am someone who gets along with almost everyone. I am a people’s person, a little shy but I am more outspoken than my brother for sure. I wanted to work with everybody but ended up working with a few people and then this whole groupism comes out and everyone talks about it. I have never been into any groups but everyone doesn’t want to work with me. Everyone has personal choices. I wasn’t working for four years so people were choosy about me and not me. Now I have changed as a person. I have become more disciplined and positive and it reflects now. I feel personal PR has become very important these days. The Deol’s have never done that. I had to come on social media and trying to be savvy.

What kept you away from films for this long?

I have never really understood the pattern of how to get work. People used to come to us earlier but lately the younger lot grabbed the roles but this is how the system has become now. I was upset, went into my own struggle within me, took support of certain things which I thought would comfort me but they brought me down. In the last two years, I went and approached so many people but things won’t just work overnight and then Poster Boyz happened to me. It is something different from what I have done before. I was very excited and nervous when Shreyas narrated me the story. I thought I don’t look like a small town teacher. He is funny and has inbuilt humour. I did a lot of workshops to learn basic Hindi.

You never had qualms about being directed by your contemporary in Poster Boyz?

I don’t care who is directing it. I feel the director is the captain of the ship. I give myself to the director but I do certain improvisations. Beyond a point, I don’t interrupt in the director’s work.

Tell us something about Poster Boyz?

It is not about vasectomy but at the same time it is based on vasectomy. People are embarrassed to talk about it. The story is about three innocent people who get trapped when a poster comes out and how these three fights against the system to come out of it. The situations are very funny in the film.

How was it working with Sunny Deol?

This is my fifth film with him. We did Dillagi in 1999 then did Apne followed by YPD 1 & 2. We stay in the same house but never really meet since we both have different timings. I used to wake up at 3:30am to workout and sleep by 8:30pm. We played Volleyball on Sundays. We used to talk about our meals though my stomach gets upset usually. I am very English in a lot of aspects. We have started shooting YPD 3 and should come out early next year.

Did you feel that the industry didn’t help you much?

Well, I think I didn’t look fresh or that exciting to them back then. I only know that I have to work since I have kids. Why should I pity myself or let people pity me? I want work based on my merits.

Would you say something about that famous DJ fiasco?

I wasn’t a DJ ever. I went for an event as Bobby Deol and no one trolled me back then. After a month, someone wanted to do some nuisance. I don’t even know how to work on the console. People thought that since I am not doing any films so I became a DJ. (laughs)