Gadar 2 poster / Wikipedia

When you carry the legacy of the He-Man of the film industry, your choices also come with a preconceived prompt, like was the case of Sunny Deol who even before he debuted, was slated to be an action hero.

His first film Betab also saw him doing daredevil stunts and action. He saw considerable success in doing so too, he was loved by his fans in films like Damini, Arjun, Dacait, Tridev, Darr and Gadar. Despite seeing the enormous success he experienced in his heydays, Sunny has not been content with his journey. After the stupendous success of Gadar 2 the actor is now back with an action thriller Jaat.

This will be his first bilingual South venture. Read on as the actor opens up about his family, his movies and what he misses in movies these days. With all the Deol boys in the business, the father in Sunny, speaks about his sons Karan and Rajveer who have already debuted in films and his brother, Bobby who is back to making the big waves...

How is Dharamji's health now?

He is fine and is back in Mumbai after a while. He keeps going to Lonavala as he loves it there. At the end of the day we are farmers and closely connected to mother earth. We don't get a chance here, but whenever I am shooting in villages I look for a house amidst the farms. The Mumbai we knew was beautiful now it's a forest of people, it has changed so much. So I keep running away from the crowds too.

Don't run away too far, your fans like to watch you in action films, besides we are sure you enjoy acting as well as farming! Especially now that you are expanding your base to the South too. How are you liking this change?

I enjoy each and everything. I don't do things that I don't enjoy. Frankly a collaboration with the South filmmakers was in the offing for a long time. A director from the South had narrated a subject to me but we couldn't do it.

A director named Hanu Raghavapudi who is now doing a film with Prabhas, was really interested in working with me so during the pandemic we sat and discussed a few subjects but we didn't get a director as he was busy. He introduced me to director Gopichand who heard my stories but said he had a story in mind and narrated his story to me so we went ahead with that. It has been on the backburner for a long time.

At this juncture, do you have a list of must-haves or pointers you keep in mind when you approach a film?

There are no pointers as such, it's all about the story. If the story needs it, we do a particular kind of action and go that extra mile. Like after Gadar, 1 realized that I have to hit the ball out of the stadium for every film, otherwise people won't consider coming to me with their films. With that mindset, with my daughter-in-law coming into our lives, I feel God has been very kind to our family. A lot of good things have been happening around and we can only be grateful for them all.

I am thankful for this film, it is a new step altogether and I am looking forward to seeing how people take this kind of action. Down south people have a lot of faith in their directors, they give them a free hand which is what we have done in this film. Gone with the director's vision and it has been an experience even for someone as jaded as me.

Was it challenging physically?

Action was never challenging, I enjoyed it and just did it. I never think about whether I will be able to do it or not. I was never afraid. I never think of the numbers. I think of the character I am playing, whether I am suiting it or justifying it or living it up.

At this stage in your career, how does it feel working with brand new directors? Does it feel like you are taking a risk?

I have worked with a lot of new directors earlier too. Yes, at times films don't work or don't get completed. It happened a lot earlier but now things have changed. It's a circle and it will keep happening but you have to have that confidence.

You have always been a private person but this is an era of promotions now, do you enjoy the process?

Earlier I never enjoyed the process and always wondered why I was doing it. It used to irritate me. But as I went along the journey I realized that this was a part of the journey and it was very necessary. There's so much noise everywhere, people are using social media like X (formerly known as Twitter), Instagram, Facebook. People are so preoccupied with all this that you have to knock and remind them that my film is releasing. You need to grab their attention.

The expectations of the audiences have increased after Gadar 2?

The audiences always have expectations, I was unable to give them the kind of films they wanted to watch me in. Those kinds of films were not being made. Now after Gadar 2 they have confidence that I am doing the kind of films they want to watch.

You mentioned somewhere, you are not fond of remakes. Does that still stand true?

No, I don't enjoy doing remakes. The only remake I did was Indian. I was doing two or three films with the writer and he narrated the story and I liked it. He said we will make it here. The audiences too loved that film.

You were passionate about direction earlier, has that taken a back seat now?

I wanted to direct and produce but somehow I realized that I am not cut out for that as I could not manage things well. That's why after directing my son's film I decided that I will not direct. As an actor I have been successful and want to concentrate on acting, I think my audience will also be glad hearing this.

You have all taken to your father's profession, do you think you are doing justice to his legacy?

My father has always been my idol and I have been watching him closely and I imbibed a lot of things from him and have inherited a lot from him too. So it has been passed on to the next generation. Papa has been a versatile actor and he's done different kinds of roles. He used to do so many films at a time whereas I am doing one film at a time. We are no match to them.

You have a great lineup of films now, there's Lahore 1947 and Border 2 coming up?

Yes, I stopped getting work after the first Gadar but started getting offers after the second Gadar released. Fortunately, I am being offered great roles and I am looking forward to it. I am looking forward to doing OTT too. There are so many roles that we cannot do for the silver screen.

There were rumours that you have signed a three film deal with some producers?

No, as a policy, I don't sign any deals. Right from the beginning I have always done one film at a time, if they like my work we work on another film together. I am someone that repeats the same filmmakers, if I have enjoyed working with them. Whatever the subject I will take it up because I know they will make a great film. I like working with such people because rarely you find a producer who is ready to go all out.

You mentioned the OTT platform, do you have something in mind for it?

I would definitely like to do it. I have done roles with little shades of grey earlier. As I said, a lot of doors have opened now. Earlier we only had cinema, but now we have so many avenues. If a film does not work at the theatres we have OTT now. We get a chance to do something different, we don't have to always do heavy duty roles, and we want to portray other roles too. I am doing a family drama, which has a bit of action. I can't reveal much.

What kind of content do you watch?

I don't get to watch much content. I have just returned from the Border shoot. I am doing two more films. have never watched many films. Whatever I watched were my father's films and the rest would be Hollywood movies by whom I have been inspired.

People have a lot of expectations from Border-2

Yes, when Gadar came people liked it and we learnt that we have to perform the characters that they have enjoyed so far as they associate with it easily. Whether it is better or worse you will come to know when the film releases. We are trying to make it as good as the first Border.

With Gadar 2 we tried not to disappoint people. The comparisons are inevitable but we have to do our best.

You have seen stardom and have also seen your father's stardom, a lof has changed, what according to you are the most obvious changes?

Everything in life has become a fashion now, and has to be trendy now. You have to be relevant in everything, every day. We were never like that and neither did 1 believe in it but I am trying to be relevant. Now when I see the next generation who are successful, obviously there's a lot of hard work they put in, but a lot of it is about being glamorous now. Eating your food, watching movies or

discussions on a topic, everything has become a fashion and the social media society which rotates around it has created all this. It is not easy to be relevant every day. As I said we never dealt with all this, we kept ourselves busy with work and waited for the next project.

Talking about trends, your brother's Ashram is again trending, have you seen it?

I don't like to see Bobby like that. He told me not to see it. It has been the most watched series. I remember speaking about it to Bobby, I told him if you are enjoying the role go ahead. You are portraying that role and character. I told Randeep Hooda the same when he came on to the Jatt film.

Bobby has become the love of the nation, how do you look at his career now?

I am so happy with the amount of things he has seen as an actor, I used to get angry that he was not offered work. He's been a great actor and now they have started loving him in a negative role. At the end of the day he's an actor playing characters, just like Amrish Puri. What happens in our industry is that we get labelled and we don't get other roles to play. He's such a good looking boy, he's tall and has swag and his capacity as an actor is tremendous, he dances well. I feel angry that his potential has not been used to the fullest. Unfortunately that's how the industry works and we can't do anything about it. That's the reality of life.

You had dabbled in politics too, how is that going?

It's a different world and I have given it up, it's a career. I am doing cinema and entertaining people and doing something more for the country than getting into something I don't understand. It's a responsibility.

Salman Khan recently commented that these days' heroes are not doing multiple hero films, for someone who has done films like Damini, Border etc... How do you take such statements?

I don't think the actors can be blamed really, earlier too there were very few films being made with multiple directors. But that time the directors had full control of the project. When the director okayed a shot, we agreed to it. Then came the monitor and everyone started giving an opinion. Cinema had also changed. Fashions have changed. We don't care about what we are doing: we are more interested in what the others are doing. We are more into brands; we don't care what suits us. Hence the originality is missing now.