Bobby Deol opens up on playing a mass murderer and how it affected him

Bobby Deol plays one helluva scary coldblooded mass murderer in Shanker Raman’s Love Hostel. The affable actor who wouldn’t hurt a fly in real life says it was difficult to get into the head of someone so evil and vicious. “Well, when I heard the subject and character I really enjoyed what I heard. After that it was all about workshops and mastering my lines so that I had a full understanding of this character’s mind. You know, I am most spontaneous when I am on the set. So the preparation was tough for me. I had to use a lot of prosthetics and since this character chews tobacco (I don’t) I had to put cotton in my mouth to look as I do.”.

For Bobby, the most challenging part of playing the character was the language. “This whole look of the character was designed by my director Shankar Ramen. The most challenging part of playing Dagar was I had to learn Haryanvi. I had to get it right, or it would not have worked.

Of late e playing some negative characters. “It is not conscious career decision to play negative characters but a conscious decision to play interesting characters. I don’t look at characters as positive or negative. When I watch films there is always one character that stays with you. I want to play that character. That’s why I enjoyed doing diverse characters like the ones in Class of 83, Ashram and now Love Hostel.”

Prakash Jha’s Ashram proved a game changer for Bobby. How has it changed the course of your career? “Well, an actor’s life is always uncertain. Even if you achieve some success and recognition. To find challenging roles is tough. Still, I am trying. I am doing Sandeep Vanga’s Animal with Ranbir Kapoor, Parineeti Chopra. I’ll be working with Anil Kapoor again after Race 3. It got delayed because of Covid. We start shooting in the middle of this year. Then I am doing the family film Apne 2 which I am very excited about.”

Looking back Bobby explains why he disappeared after a spate of successes such as Soldier, Apne, Gupt and Baadal. “That’s what my fans used to ask me whenever I would travel. They would ask why I wasn’t being seen on the screen. And I couldn’t tell them it was because I wasn’t getting good roles. But my fans stood by me. They gave me the strength to keep looking for the right roles. Thankfully I found the roles I liked. My new films have given me some new fans. I am thankful I am still here. Yeah, I am in a good space right now.”

He admits the OTT platform has done a lot of good for a lot of actors. “I think it has helped actors like me as well, who were not getting good opportunities lately. I am doing interesting work. And people have the time at home to watch me in films or in the longer format the web series at their own pace. Even as a viewer I enjoy the variety I get on the OTT platform. I think the OTT is the best thing to happen to our film industry.”