'Animal,' 'Love Hostel': Bobby Deol's sensational second innings in Bollywood
Bobby Deol made a place for himself through films like Soldier and Barsaat. He was largely successful in coming out of the shadow of his father Dharmendra and his brother Sunny Deol, however, his career went into a free-fall in the early 2010s, only to be resurrected in 2018 by Race 3. Which projects lent Deol's career a second life? Take a look.
'Housefull 4'
In 2019, Deol reunited with his Ajnabee co-star Akshay Kumar for the fourth part of the comedy franchise Housefull. Helmed by Farhad Samji, the film was a leave-your-brains-out-comedy, and sometimes, that's all the audience needs. Deol had a meaty part as Dharamputra Singh Mahabali/Madhav "Max" Sinha (dual roles), and the film turned out to be a commercial success, helping Deol return to his A-game.
'Class of '83'
Class of '83 (2020) is another film that helped Deol break out of conventional roles and take on something new and challenging. The Atul Sabharwal directorial is based on the book The Class of 83 by Hussain Zaidi and is produced by Shah Rukh Khan-Gauri Khan's Red Chillies Entertainment. Anup Soni, Joy Sengupta, Vishwajeet Pradhan, and Geetika Tyagi co-starred. It's streaming on Netflix.
'Love Hostel'
In ZEE5's Love Hostel, Deol essayed the role of Viraj Singh Dagar, a ruthless, conniving hitman whose task is to capture a young inter-religion couple: Ahmed Shaukeen (Vikrant Massey) and Jyoti Dilawar (Sanya Malhotra). Deol had to use prosthetics, keep a cotton ball in his mouth to show that the character was constantly chewing something, and learn Haryanvi to play this role.
'Animal'
This role is one for the ages. To not speak a word, feature in select scenes, flaunt his chiseled body in the climax, and yet steal all the limelight—Deol's role in Animal is what actors dream of. Deol may have only featured in the second half, but the response has been overwhelmingly positive, so much so, that it even moved him to tears publicly.
'Aashram'
Coming to his work on web series, Deol's Aashram, which has spawned three seasons, is another project that stands tall in Deol's repertoire. In this series available on MX Player, Deol slips into the character of a godman, known as Kashipur waale Baba Nirala. The crime thriller series was written by Habib Faisal and directed and produced by filmmaker-actor Prakash Jha.
