With his curly hair, bobbling head and round sunglasses, we still think of “Duniya Haseeno Ka Mela” when we think of Bobby Deol. After a string of popular films like Gupt and Soldier among others, Bobby made quite a name for himself in the 90s. Bobby was never known for his acting chops. What he was known for was his swag, even though the word did not exist back in the day. His undeniable charisma and those long wavy hair made him stand out in the crowd.
The 90s were a much simpler time. Words like nepotism weren’t thrown around before a star kid’s debut and hence, Bobby Deol was proudly known as Dharmendra’s younger son. His older brother Sunny Deol was already the dhai-kilo-ka-haath man and here was Bobby, trying to make googly eyes at the ladies. It was expected that with Bobby entering the world of movies, this family would turn into a crackling team.
Gupt, one of the rare Hindi films that really holds your attention till the end, was quite a hit and with that Bobby became a sensation. Soldier, too, cemented his position in the industry. This was the time when Abbas-Mustan potboilers were what Hindi film lovers associated with thrillers and frankly, Bobby was the man who made the most out of these films. Though it’s hard to remember a film that brought out the acting talent of Deol Jr, it was his unique dancing style that made him famous. Coming from the family where all men have two left feet, this was an anomaly.
With the onset of 2000s, Bobby Deol appeared in many films which were quite underwhelming (Read: Bicchhoo, Badal) but he was still pretty much in the game. With films like Ajnabee and Humraaz, Bobby made an investment that we are sure even he did not realise would yield in adulation. With multiple satellite runs over the years, these films have gotten associated with nostalgia and don’t we all know there is no currency better than that!
Bobby Deol made the most out of Abbas-Mustan thrillers.
As the 90s kids grew up and started romancing everything from landline phones to Govinda dancing on the streets, Bobby too became a part of that package. Parody Twitter accounts added to his popularity and even though Bobby was on a four-year sabbatical since 2013, the audience never forgot about the man who once danced to “Tera Rang Balle Balle”. Had social media not existed, Bobby would have probably gotten lost in the pool of yesteryear-stars-who-were-famous-for-a-while, much like Kumar Gaurav, but he inadvertently struck gold. As the likes of Buzzfeed discovered the power of milking nostalgia and Hindi cinema started romancing the bygone era, it became evident that Bobby’s fan brigade still existed.
When news came in that Bobby was turning into a DJ, meme makers had a ball at his expense. Well if DJ Bobby was making you dance to “Gupt Gupt”, you would just go in to re-live those childhood days. Soon the news was discredited by the actor, but the entire episode proved that Bobby’s name still had the clickbait power.
After a long time, Bobby Deol is returning to the big commercial movie game. Race 3 is up for release in a few days and Housefull 4 will follow in just a few months; and if you have seen the trailer of Race 3, you will know that this time the man means business. Twitterati could not stop gushing over shirtless Bobby Deol and though I would like to believe that much of it was just for the sake of nostalgia, it still says that Bobby has earned much love over the years.
In many of his recent interviews, Bobby has spoken about taking up acting jobs to explore his craft, and while we wish him luck on his endeavours, we can only hope that in his comeback with Race 3 he still has the charm that once floored us. When he walked into a club with a spring in his step, and made us want to dance just because he was on the big screen.
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