Abhay Deol is a Bollywood royalty. The actor comes from a family of stars. FYI: He is the nephew of veteran actor Dharmendra. Superstars Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol are his cousins. Recently, Abhay opened up about his journey in the industry. The actor also spoke about his experience of working with Anurag Kashyap in Dev D. The 2009 film also featured Kalki Koechlin, Mahie Gill, Dibyendu Bhattacharya and Surekha Sikri.
Speaking to Filmfare, Abhay Deol said, “That's why Dev D came to me; the idea was to call out his toxic masculinity and empower the women. That was the idea behind it. I stuck to the book where he (Devdas; in the Anurag directorial, the character's name is Devendra Singh Dhillon aka Dev) dies in the end; but instead of an alcohol or drug overdose, he starts dealing in drugs to support himself, the cops chase him, he doesn't know where to go, so he runs to Paro's house and gets shot outside her door.”
Abhay Deol added how Dev D made “drugs and alcohol” look cool. He added, “Eventually, the film kind of became cool and people saw that and wanted to do more drugs and alcohol. I was like, ‘That was not the point.' I have literally had friends say, ‘Please tell my nephew that ecstasy is not good for them'. I also had a friend who called me saying he had finished an entire bottle of vodka. That glamorisation was entirely away from what I had envisioned.”
During the same interview, Abhay Deol spoke about his equation with his parents and how he grew up in a “conservative joint family.” He said, “While growing up we were pretty conservative, we were a joint family with seven kids in the house. Films were something I was exposed to from childhood, through my uncle and father. They came from humble backgrounds, they came from a village, and for them the big city and world of glamour was alien. They want to hold on to their small-town values, which I can see in retrospect. Back then I didn't understand why we were held back from going to ‘filmy parties' as they call them, or mingling with the industry kids or the industry. They were trying to protect us, but back then I was confused.”
Abhay Deol has worked in films including Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!, Aisha and Chopsticks.
