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Abhay Deol accepts Deol family is ‘conservative’: ‘Women from the family can work but not in films’

Abhay Deol reveals how his family never understood his choices of films and were always worried for him, cousins Sunny and Bobby Deol thought he should be a lawyer.

Abhay Deol on being a rebellious childAbhay Deol on being a rebellious child (Photos: Abhay Deol, Dharmendra, Sunny Deol / Instagram)

Actor Abhay Deol has been popularly known for his roles in Manorama Six Feet Under, Oye Lucky Lucky Oye, Aisha and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobaara. While the actor has done lots of films, his choices have been rather unconventional making him an outlier in the Deol family which has multiple members working in cinema. Now, as Abhay opens up about the same in a conversation with Filmfare, he recalls how he has been a rebellious kid always. He also shared that his film choices certainly left his family concerned. Accepting it was a conservative household, Abhay qualified the statement that women from the family are not allowed to work. “They are allowed to work but not in films,” he said.

 

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Also Read: Abhay Deol refuses to define his sexuality, accepts it ‘might sound controversial’: ‘I’ve embraced all experiences in my life’

Abhay said, “While growing up we were pretty conservative, we were a joint family with seven kids in the house. Films were something I was exposed to from childhood, through my uncle and father. They came from humble backgrounds, they came from a village, and for them the big city and world of glamour was alien. They want to hold on to their small-town values, which I can see in retrospect. Back then I didn’t understand why were held back from going to ‘filmy parties’ as they call them, or mingle with the industry kids or the industry. They were trying to protect us, but back then I was confused.”

Saying he was always rebellious, Abhay also added, “What I did with the film industry, my family was not surprised at all. They always said I should either be a lawyer or an actor. If you ask Bobby or Sunny Deol, they will just tell you that I argue a lot. I started as a left-hander and they made me a right-hander, and I kept questioning it. Early in my career, the film choices I made, they were concerned. They did make my first movie Socha Na Tha, and they were okay with that, but with the later choices like Manorama or Ek Chaalis Ki Last Local, they made peace with my choices with Dev D and Oye Lucky Lucky Oye. They just didn’t want me to go down that path because they were concerned. My father was worried, he hated Manorama because that was not a language they understood or a change they saw happening.”

 

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“They had been in the industry long enough to know unless you didn’t capitalize on what’s the norm, you might be left behind,” Abhay added. On the work front, Abhay was last seen on the big screen in 2022, in 2023 his web series Trial By Fire received a great response.

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