Sunny Deol

Sunny Deol
Deol in 2019
Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
Incumbent
Assumed office 18 June 2019
Preceded by	Sunil Kumar Jakhar
Constituency	Gurdaspur
Personal details
Residence(s)	Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Born	Ajay Singh Dharmendra Deol (1956-10-19) 19 October 1956 Sahnewal, East Punjab, India (present-day Punjab)
Nationality	Indian
Occupations	Actor film director film producer politician boxer
Years active	1983–present
Works	Full list
Political party	Bharatiya Janata Party
Spouse	Lynda Deol (aka Pooja Deol) ​ ​ (m. 1984)​
Children	2
Parents	Dharmendra (father) Hema Malini (step-mother)
Relatives	See Deol family
Awards	Full list

Ajay Singh Dharmendra Deol (born 19 October 1956), better known by his stage name Sunny Deol, is an Indian actor, film director, producer, politician and incumbent Member of Parliament from Gurdaspur (Lok Sabha constituency) of Punjab, India. As an actor, he has worked in more than 100 Hindi films and earned the image of an angry action hero. He went on to star in numerous successful films in the 1980s and 1990s and is considered as one of the top stars of that time. Deol has won two National Film Awards and two Filmfare Awards.

Deol made his debut opposite fellow debutante Amrita Singh in Betaab (1983), for which he received a Filmfare Best Actor Award nomination. With his portrayal of an amateur boxer wrongly accused of his brother's murder in Rajkumar Santoshi's Ghayal in 1990, Deol gained wide recognition and praise and won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor and the National Film Award – Special Jury Award / Special Mention (Feature Film). His portrayal of a lawyer in the film Damini – Lightning (1993) won him the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor and the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor. He starred in several other blockbuster movies such as Arjun (1985), Paap Ki Duniya (1988), Tridev (1989), ChaalBaaz (1989), Darr (1993), Jeet (1996), Ghatak (1996), Ziddi (1997), Border (1997), Salaakhen (1998), Arjun Pandit (1999), Indian (2001) and The Hero: Love Story of a Spy (2003).

Another milestone for Deol was Gadar: Ek Prem Katha (2001), in which Deol portrayed a patriotic Indian truck driver, and the movie became the highest-grossing Bollywood film ever at the time of its release, garnering him a Filmfare Best Actor Award nomination. Later, Deol appeared alongside his father Dharmendra and brother Bobby Deol together for the first time in the 2007 hit, Apne; followed by a family comedy, Yamla Pagla Deewana (2011), which was also successful.

Early life

Sunny Deol was born as Ajay Singh Dharmendra Deol on 19 October 1956, in the village of Sahnewal in Punjab, India in a Punjabi Jat family, to Bollywood actor Dharmendra and Parkash Kaur.

He has a younger brother Bobby Deol and two sisters Vijayta and Ajeeta who are settled in California, USA. Hema Malini is his step-mother. Actress Esha Deol and Ahana Deol are his half-sisters. His cousin Abhay Deol is also an actor.

Acting career

Debut, breakthrough, & rise to prominence (1983-1989)

Deol made his debut in the 1983 romantic film Betaab in which Deol's performance was praised and he was nominated for best actor at Filmfare Awards. The film was a commercial success and went on to be one of the biggest hits of the year, emerging as the 2nd highest grossing Indian film of 1983. The following year, Deol starred in Sunny, Manzil Manzil, and Sohni Mahiwal, with only the later becoming successful at the box office.

Deol then appeared in Rahul Rawail's Arjun (1985), in which he played the titular role of an unemployed radical youngster, who alongside his group of friends, fights against the system that thrives on corruption and exploitation of the weak. The film opened to much critical praise and went on to become a major hit and established Sunny Deol's status as an action hero. Arjun is considered one of Deol's best works till date. At the 33rd Filmfare Awards, the film was nominated for several awards, including Best Film and Best Director for Rahul Rawail.

In 1986 he appeared alongside his father in Sultanat. In the final years of the decade he appeared in several hits including Paap Ki Duniya (1988), Tridev (1989) and ChaalBaaz (1989). His role as a police officer in Tridev was highlighted and the film along with ChaalBaaz, was among the top 5 highest earning films of the year.

Action hero image, commercial success & superstardom (1990-2003)

Deol appeared in the lead role of a boxer in 1990's Ghayal, directed by debutante Rajkumar Santoshi, which became the year's second top-grossing film worldwide and the highest grossing film domestically. The film grossed ₹20 crore and was declared a blockbuster by Box Office India. It established and won Deol the Filmfare Award for Best Actor and National Film Special Jury Award. The huge success of the film established Deol as a bonafide box office draw and the film recorded a large repeat audience. Though the rest of Deol's releases that year saw minimal success.

Due to the overwhelming success of Ghayal, Deol enjoyed a very successful period throughout the 90s. From 1991 to 1999, he delivered back to back successes. Starting with Yodha in 1991 in which he co-starred alongside Sanjay Dutt. It received mostly average reviews and earned ₹12.95 crore against a budget of ₹2.85 crore. The same year, Narsimha was another success and emerged as the 8th highest grossing Indian film of 1991.

In 1992, he appeared in his only release Vishwatma. The film received critical acclaim upon release from contemporary as well as modern critics, with praise drawn towards its screenplay and action sequences. It earned over ₹9.5 crore in its total theatrical run worldwide and was the sixth highest-grossing Indian film of 1992. The soundtrack created a rage and was very much successful. The Song "Saat Samundar" became a huge chartbuster of that year which till now, enjoys a massive cult status among Indian audience. It proved to be a major launchpad for Chunky Pandey as well as for debutanté Divya Bharti, who went on to achieve the limelight in Bollywood.

In 1993, Deol reunited with Rajkumar Santoshi to play an alcoholic lawyer in the highly successful social drama Damini and was awarded the Filmfare Award and National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor. It is considered a cult feminist film and is still regarded as an all-time classic female oriented film and important for portraying women empowerment in cinema The pathbreaking film was praised for breaking social taboos and handling the subject of rape with sensitivity; a rarity in Bollywood at the time. It further strengthened Deol's He-man image. His dialogues in the film "Tarikh Pe Tarikh" ("date after date") and "Dhai Kilo ka Haath" ('Two-and-a-half kilogram hand') became iconic and a pop-culture reference. The film was a milestone in the careers of Deol as well as Amrish Puri who went onto star in various films together in the future. Besides being critically acclaimed, the film also became the sixth highest grossing of the year and was declared a "hit" at Box Office India. That same year, Deol's character of an lieutenant army officer in Yash Chopra's psychological thriller Darr earned him a Filmfare Award for Best Actor nomination. Darr was declared a blockbuster and was the third-highest grossing film of the year in India, and the highest-grossing Indian film of the year in the overseas markets. It received critical acclaim from critics and audiences upon release. It is also remembered for being Shah Rukh Khan's breakthrough film.

In 1994's Insaniyat, he appeared alongside Amitabh Bachchan which turned out to be the 10th highest grossing film of the year. In 1995, Angrakshak was an 'above average grosser' at the box office.

At the time, 1996 marked Deol's most successful year in terms of commercial success. The audiences saw four releases that year including Himmat, Jeet, Ghatak, and Ajay, all four were successes. Starring Alongside Salman Khan and Karisma Kapoor, Jeet earned a worldwide collection of ₹29 crore. It was declared a Super Hit and became the 4th highest grossing Bollywood film of 1996. The soundtrack of Jeet was a chartbuster with the inclusion of the songs "Saanson Ka Chalna" and "Yaara O Yaara". Ghatak, released the same year, received critical and commercial acclaim, and was declared a Blockbuster. It marked Santoshi's third collaboration with Deol, Seshadri, and Puri after Ghayal (1990) and Damini (1993). It won three awards including Best Supporting Actor for Puri at the 42nd Filmfare Awards, where it was also nominated for three other awards: Best Director for Santoshi, Best Actor for Deol, and Best Villain for Denzongpa. Deol's dialogues in Ghatak such as "Ye Mazdoor Ka Haath Hai Kaatiya" and "Utha Utha Ke Patkunga" became extremely popular among the audiences and influenced the pop culture of the time period.

Deol kicked off 1997 with another blockbuster Ziddi. Ziddi, with a net collection of Rs 292.5 million, was one of the highest grossing films of 1997. The movie flourished particularly in North India. The songs were well-received, with the dandy number "Mera Dil Le Gayi Oye" becoming extremely popular. He followed it up with the colossal hit Border, an epic war film based on the real life events that happened during the Battle of Longewala in 1971, in which Deol played the leading role of decorated Indian Army officer Brigadier Kuldip Singh Chandpuri. The film featured a huge ensemble cast of Deol, Jackie Shroff, Sunil Shetty, Akshaye Khanna, Tabu, Raakhee, Pooja Bhatt, including others. It opened to strong box office results and was declared an all-time blockbuster by Box Office India. It also became the highest-grossing Hindi film of 1997 in India, and the second highest-grossing film of the year worldwide. Border grossed a worldwide total of ₹65.57 crore and it was the fourth biggest blockbuster film of the 90s decade. The film won several awards at different award functions. It received 11 nominations at the 43rd Filmfare Awards, including Best Film, and Best Actor for Deol. The film's song, "Sandese Aate Hai", sung by Sonu Nigam and Roop Kumar Rathod, became one of the most popular Hindi songs. The popularity of the song marked the breakthrough of Sonu Nigam in the industry.

In 1998, Salaakhen was his only hit of the year. Deol was critically acclaimed for his role.

His 1999 film Arjun Pandit marked his second collaboration with director Rahul Rawail after Arjun. Due to the critical and commercial success of Arjun, the film was among one of the most awaited films of the year. Although it was not well reviewed upon release, the film became a hit. UP gangster Vikas Dubey was reported to be an ardent fan of this movie. He was rumoured to have watched it over 100 times. Inspired by his love for this movie, he had earned the monicker Pandit. The film is also remembered for its song Kudiyan Shehar Diyan, sung by Daler Mehndi and performed by Juhi Chawla. In 1999 he made his directorial debut with Dillagi starring himself, his brother and Urmila Matondkar, but the film failed to gain success.

Deol' only release of the year 2000 was Champion which was a box office disappointment.

Farz, released in 2001, was Deol's first hit in the millennium. His first blockbuster hit in the millennium was 2001 film Gadar: Ek Prem Katha, directed by Anil Sharma, in which Deol played the role of a patriotic Indian truck driver, Tara Singh who falls in love with a Muslim girl, Sakeena, in the backdrop of 1947 partition violence, and makes a dramatic trip to Pakistan to get back his beloved. Gadar became the highest-grossing Hindi film up until then in mainstream cinema earning over ₹1.3 billion (US$16 million) worldwide. Gadar: Ek Prem Katha ranks among the top 3 Indian films in all-time highest footfalls since 1990s. The soundtrack of Gadar was immensely popular, especially the songs "Udja Kale Kawan" and "Main Nikla Gaddi Leke" which topped the charts for months. The soundtrack sold approximately 2.5 million copies. The infamous "Handpump scene" became a major cultural symbol and influenced the contemporary meme culture in India in the following years. Deol was nominated for Filmfare Award for Best Actor once again. In the same year, Deol also worked in another successful action thriller film Indian (2001). It was the fourth highest-grossing Hindi film of the year in India with collection of ₹42.60 crore.

In 2002, Deol starred in the war film Maa Tujhhe Salaam (2002) which opened strongly but only emerged as a "below average grosser" due to poor reviews. He played the role of Indian revolutionary Chandra Shekhar Azad in his second doctorial 23rd March 1931: Shaheed, starring his brother Bobby Deol. The film's release coincided with another film based on Bhagat Singh directed by Rajkumar Santoshi and titled The Legend of Bhagat Singh. Both films failed at the box office but became a cult classic in the coming years.

Then, in 2003, Deol teamed up with director Anil Sharma yet again for The Hero: Love Story of a Spy, which also starred Preity Zinta and the debutant Priyanka Chopra. Released on 11 April, The Hero was billed as Bollywood's most expensive film at that time with an estimated budget of ₹600 million (US$7.2 million). The film became the third highest-grossing Bollywood film of that year.

Box office fluctuations and expansion into comedies (2004-present)

Sunny Deol in 2012

Deol appeared alongside his father Dharmendra and brother Bobby Deol together for the first time in Apne (2007). In 2008, he appeared with his brother again in the ensemble film Heroes.

Deol's first release of 2010 was Neeraj Pathak's crime thriller Right Yaaa Wrong which had him playing a police inspector. Yamla Pagla Deewana which also featured him alongside his father and brother was Deol's only release in 2011 and was one of the biggest successes of the year. In 2011, he started working in Radhika Rao and Vinay Sapru's I Love NY opposite Kangana Ranaut and in Chandraprakash Dwivedi's Mohalla Assi opposite Sakshi Tanwar, but due to some reason both films were delayed and released several years later.

For the first time in his career, Deol lent his voice (for Bheem) in the Animated film Mahabharata; produced by Jayantilal Gada of PEN India Pvt Ltd. It earned ₹16.9 millions whereas Yamla Pagla Deewana earned ₹887.25 millions. Yamla Pagla Deewana 2, a sequel to his 2011 hit was released in 2013 but the film was a critical and box office failure. In the end of 2013 Deol teamed up with Anil Sharma yet again for Singh Saab The Great which was loved massively and created a big pandemonium in the cinema hall as well as on Facebook.

Sunny Deol and Dharmendra in 2016

Having given a number of blockbuster hits earlier, from 2015 onwards, Deol has been getting several sequel movies. In 2016, Ghayal Once Again was released which was a sequel to his 1990 film Ghayal and is the second film directed by him. In 2017 he and his brother appeared in Shreyas Talpade's comedy film Poster Boys, which became a semi hit at the box office. In 2018, Deol appeared in Yamla Pagla Deewana: Phir Se, the third film in the franchise. Also that year, two of his long delayed films Bhaiyyaji Superhitt (where he plays a double role for the first time), and Mohalla Assi were released.

Meanwhile, in 2019, Deol took the mantle of a director again, his third film as a director, Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas, which marked the debut of his son Karan Deol, with another newcomer Sahher Bambba in lead roles.

Further, in 2023, the sequel of the 2001 blockbuster Gadar, Gadar 2, is scheduled to be released on 11 August 2023; and film story is centered around the era of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, in which Deol as Tara Singh returns to Pakistan to bring back his son. It is directed and produced by Anil Sharma, and the film stars Sunny Deol, Ameesha Patel, and Utkarsh Sharma in lead roles. Another sequel to the 2007 hit family movie, Apne, Apne 2 starring three generations of Deols with Dharmendra, Bobby Deol, and Karan Deol is under production.

Political career

Deol joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on 23 April 2019. He won the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections from Gurdaspur constituency in Punjab against his rival Sunil Jakhar of Indian national Congress with a margin of 82,459 votes.

Personal life

Sunny Deol is married to Pooja Deol (aka Lynda Deol) and the couple has two sons, Karan and Rajveer. Karan was an assistant director on Yamla Pagla Deewana 2 and has rapped in a song sung by Diljit Dosanjh in the film. Karan Deol has made his Bollywood debut in 2019 with the Hindi-language feature film Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas. In June 2023, son Karan Deol got married to Drisha Acharya in the presence of the Deol family, including Sunny Deol, Dharmendra and Bobby Deol, among others.

Filmography

Main article: Sunny Deol filmography

Awards and nominations

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Sunny Deol

External links

• Sunny Deol at IMDb