At 54 he may no longer have the youthful charm that set hearts aflutter in Betaab or the fire of Ajay Mehra in Ghayal, but Bollywood's macho man Sunny Deol still packs a mean punch at the box office.
At 54 he may no longer have the youthful charm that set hearts aflutter in Betaab or the fire of Ajay Mehra in Ghayal, but Bollywood's macho man Sunny Deol still packs a mean punch at the box office.
Sunny was born to superstar Dharmendra and his first wife Prakash Kaur in Delhi on October 19, 1956. He was called Ajay Singh Deol at birth.
Acting seems to run in the Deol family. Sunny's younger brother Bobby lit up the silver screen for a while and his cousin Abhay Deol continues to make waves as one of the exciting new talents in the Indian film industry.
Besides Sunny and Bobby, Dharmendra had two other children from his marriage to Prakash Kaur. Vijeta and Ajeeta were kept away from the limelight and are happily settled. Dharmendra married actress Hema Malini in 1980 and she bore him two daughters - Esha and Ahana. While Esha made her acting debut with Koi Mere Dil Se Poochhe in 2002, Ahana has made a name for herself as a classical dancer and entrepreneur.
Sunny honed his acting skills at the Old Web Theatre in Birmingham, England where he did several plays and shows.
Dharmendra launched his son in a home production in 1983. Directed by Rahul Rawail, Betaab turned out to be a huge hit and catapulted Sunny and his leading lady Amrita Singh to instant stardom.
While films like Sohni Mahiwal, Manzil Manzil and Zabardast were moderately successful, it was not until 1985 that Sunny once again hit the jackpot with Arjun.
Arjun's angry young man caught the public imagination and after that there was no looking back for Bollywood's new action hero.
Sunny went on to prove that his success was no flash in the pan with films like Dacait (1987), Paap Ki Duniya (1988), Tridev (1989), Chaalbaaz (1989), Ghayal (1990), Vardi (1990) and Vishwatma (1992).
Ghayal in fact was a major milestone in Sunny's Bollywood career. It won him the National award and the Filmfare Award for Best Actor.
His performance in Dacait also received critical acclaim and commercial success at the box office.
In the 1990s Sunny emerged as one of the most bankable stars in Indian cinema.
Sunny showed that he did not need to play the lead to be acknowledged as an actor. In Damini (1993) he was cast in one of the most memorable roles of his career. As Govind, the washed out lawyer who emerges from his alcoholic stupor to fight for justice, Sunny walked away with the National Award and Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Although Sunny failed to make an impression in Darr (1993) where Shah Rukh Khan blew away all competition on screen with his performance as a psychotic villain, his stature at the box office remained largely unchallenged.
As if to underline his superstar status, Sunny delivered five big hits in a row - Jeet (1996), Ghatak (1996), Ajay (1996), Ziddi (1997) and Border (1997).
He was nominated for Filmfare Best Actor Award for Ghatak: Lethal and Filmfare Best Actor Award for Border in 1997 and 1998 respectively.
But Sunny's best was yet to come. In 2001 he starred opposite Amisha Patel in Gadar: Ek Prem Katha and rewrote the history books. He played a Sikh truck driver Tara Singh who falls in love with a Muslim girl Sakeena (played by Amisha) against the backdrop of the Partition.
A clash with Aamir Khan's Lagaan at the box office, did nothing to dampen Gadar: Ek Prem Katha's success.
According to reports, Gadar: Ek Prem Katha is the fourth highest grossing Bollywood movie.
Though a few films like Indian (2001) and Maa Tujhhe Salaam (2002) dented the belief in Sunny's box office invincibility, he was back with a bang in The Hero: Love Story of a Spy (2003).
The last few years have not been kind to Sunny. Even the controversy surrounding his film Jo Bole So Nihaal in 2005 failed to spark life into the box office. His career has gone into a downward spiral with films like Naksha (2006) Big Brother (2007) and Apne (2007) unable to recreate the old magic.
Sunny has also failed to make a successful transition from acting to direction. Both his films as director - Dillagi in 1999 and The Man in 2009 received lukewarm response.
Sunny's personal life has been as absorbing as that of his father Dharmendra. Married to Pooja Deol with whom he has two sons, the actor was also rumoured to be in a long-term relationship with Dimple Kapadia. He has been linked to actress Raveena Tandon too in the past.
No one can doubt the talent and the resilience that has seen Sunny Deol stand tall through the ups and downs of a career spanning 27 years. When it is time for Bollywood's best to be counted, Sunny's name will surely make the cut.
