Sunny Sense

The affinity for stuntmen apart,what has prompted the action hero to sign this project is his just-developed zeal to experiment and stay in public consciousness. “It is time to experiment with everything,with films and television,” says the 54-year-old actor-producer. This yearning to experiment shows in his choice of films as well as his keenness to give up his low media profile for a marketing drive.

This change in Sunny has come after many failures and one success — that of Yamla Pagla Deewana (YPD). After a series of recent flops,including Naksha,Fool n Final,Kaafila,Tolly Lights and Fox,he did Right Yaa Wrong,a film that received favourable reviews,but failed at the box-office. “We released Right Yaa Wrong without any emphasis on marketing it,” he recalls. This made him promote his next,YPD in full force along with dad Dharmendra and brother Bobby Deol. “For YPD,we got out,toured and talked about it,” he says. Their effort was rewarded with a much-needed hit.

Now,Sunny is back in the Bollywood game with YPD 2,Dr Chandraprakash Dwivedi’s Mohalla 80,Happy New Year with Kangna Ranaut and a sequel to Ghayal. Suddenly,Sunny’s stake is on the rise. And he is out to capitalise on it by launching an advance promotion of his upcoming ventures. Mohalla 80 is releasing only in August while Raj Kumar Santoshi’s Ghayal sequel will be out in 2012. The scripting of YPD 2 is still on and Happy New Year has just gone on the floors.

Sunny,however,is keen to maintain his rapport with the media. Unlike the days of yore,he appears much at ease with the media attention as he meets journalists in Chandigarh dressed in worn-out jeans,white cotton shirt with the sleeves casually rolled up,a tie and dye scarf around his neck and blue-tinted sunglasses. “I have realised that it’s never too late to go out there and spread the word — about us,our work and our films,” says Sunny.

According to the actor,his best move post YPD has been to get Dwivedi,the director of Pinjar,on board for his production house,Vijeyta Films. “In Bollywood,we don’t have directors or writers of high calibre. And actors have become an insecure lot with their own agendas. When I look at my father’s body of work—from Satyakam,Bandini to Chupke Chupke and Pratigya,I yearn for that kind of cinema,” he says. In Dwivedi’s Mohalla 80,Sunny assures that the audience will see traces

of Satyakam. “I play a Sanskrit teacher who refuses to change with time,” he adds.

It’s not just the movies that Dharmendra did,Sunny admits to being in awe of his father when he was young.

“When we were young,7 pm meant bedtime and there were only two reactions from papa — yes or no. We are still scared of papa and maintain our distance. But with my sons,I am more like a friend and I don’t mind discussing girls,cars and college with them,” says Sunny. This makes us wonder if such candid talk would come from Sunny,had it not been for his new-found belief in opening up.