The tide has turned for Sunny Deol.He has another actioner in the upcoming Jatt and has reteamed with Rajkumar Santoshi after almost three decades for the Aamir Khan produced Lahore 1947.
Dinesh Raheja chronicles the star who turned 67 on October 19.
Photograph: Kind courtesy Sunny Deol/Instagram
We all know that Sunny Deol is Bollywood’s Knockout Man.
But the story behind his fists of fury continues:
Sunny Deol’s career reached its zenith early in the new millennium with the release of Anil Sharma’s blockbuster, Gadar: Ek Prem Katha.
His anguish captured the human tragedy played out during the Partition of India, and the plight of a married man separated from his wife (Ameesha Patel).
The burly actor was believable as a man willing to fight extreme odds to reunite his family.
Subsequent films such as Indian (2001) and The Hero (2003) garnered impressive box office initials, indicating a groundswell of support for the star.
Yet, surprisingly few big banner films were offered to Sunny.
The actor has lamented his lack of marketing skills and this did prove to be a disadvantage in a fast corporatising film industry of the 2000s.
IMAGE: Bobby Deol, Sunny Deol and Dharmendra in Yamla Pagla Deewana Phir Se.
While Dharmendra and brother Bobby have more expansive personalities, Sunny has always been something of an introvert — all his leading ladies echo comments about his ‘shyness’.
This is compounded by his reluctance to talk about his personal life in the press. Sunny had to rely only on his work to speak for itself.
One marketing strategy the Deols did adopt was to band together.
Anil Sharma’s Apne (2007) featured father Dharmendra and brother Bobby alongside Sunny as a man carving out his identity amidst conflicting family ties.
More sentimental than contemporaneous cinema, the film found a receptive audience.
Inspired by Apne‘s success, the Deols came together for another popular film, Yamla Pagla Deewana (2011), which in turn led to a lacklustre sequel.
The comedies were a novel departure from the norm for Sunny.
IMAGE: Sunny Deol in Ghayal.
Sunny tried his hand at direction thrice, but drew a blank at the box office each time with Dillagi (1999), Ghayal Once Again (2016) and Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas (2019).
The last film launched his elder son Karan while younger son Rajveer was introduced on screen by the Rajashris in the recent Dono.
Like his collaborations with Rahul Rawail in the ’80s and Rajkumar Santoshi in the ’90s, it is Anil Sharma’s films which have proved to be the mainstay of Sunny’s career in the new millennium.
IMAGE: Sunny Deol and Ameesha Patel in Gadar 2.
In 2023, their fifth collaboration Gadar 2 pivoted pandemic-weary audiences back towards cinema houses, and signalled a career resurgence for the actor.
The tide has turned for Sunny.
He has another actioner in the upcoming Jatt and has reteamed with Rajkumar Santoshi after almost three decades for the Aamir Khan produced Lahore 1947.
Even as he turned 67 on October 19, Sunny’s fists of fury continue to fly onscreen.
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