Bobby Deol says he comes from ‘traditional and conservative family’, relationships were ‘taboo’ when he was young

Bobby Deol, who plays a ruthless mercenary named Dagar in Love Hostel, said that he has been making a conscious effort to play diverse characters ever since he ventured into the OTT space. “It started with Class of 83 where I played this cop, a very different character from what I had played before, and then Aashram happened, which was again something no one imagined me doing,” he told Hindustan Times in an interview, adding that he was ‘really excited’ when he was approached for Love Hostel.

In Love Hostel, Bobby’s character Dagar is a trigger-happy mercenary on a mission to hunt down inter-religious couple Jyoti (Sanya Malhotra) and Ashu (Vikrant Massey), who elope and get married. The film will begin streaming on Zee5 from February 25.

Describing Dagar as someone who ‘doesn’t care about anything’, Bobby said, “Something happened in his life years back and now he is just out there to prove that if anyone goes wrong, he is going to correct them. His belief is so strong that he feels whatever he does is right. He is very calm, cool and focused. He doesn’t get perturbed. He is always on his A-game and he knows he has to get what he has to get.”

To get into the character, Bobby read the script over and over and had several discussions with director Shanker Raman. “The character chews tobacco so I would have to keep a piece of cotton in my mouth. That’s why the texture of my voice when I am speaking sounds like there is something in my mouth,” he said and called learning the Haryanvi dialect the ‘most fun part’ of the prep. He added that he was ‘really happy’ with the amazing response to the trailer.

When Bobby played a negative role in Aashram, he felt ‘uneasy’ in the beginning. “It starts to play on your mind because as an actor, you get so involved with the character that you start feeling those things and you start hating yourself because you are not really like that,” he said. But he eventually ‘came out of it’ by reminding himself that real life is different from reel life.

While his co-star Sanya talked about Love Hostel being ‘emotionally heavy’ for her and how she was ‘constantly in touch’ with her therapist, Bobby said, “I think I have experienced so much in my life, emotional ups and downs, that for me, it is easier to get out of it than Sanya and all these younger kids. For them, it must be mentally draining them out. I am a pretty switch on-switch off kind of guy.”

Familial opposition to love is at the centre of Love Hostel and on being asked if he ever faced resistance from his own family when he was in a relationship, Bobby laughed. “It’s part of growing up. Growing up, you are definitely going to fall in love many times, you are going to have heartbreaks or break hearts. But that’s the way you learn about relationships. There is nothing like I was against love or someone was against my love. That happens, we are a very traditional and conservative family. To have boyfriends and girlfriends when I was a kid was a big taboo. But things have really changed now. People have become more broad-minded, more understanding and they know that this is how the world is, you cannot control anyone’s emotions or feelings,” he said.

Bobby added that he will behave differently with his sons , Aryaman and Dharam. “I know how it feels. I am all open. I just want them to concentrate on their studies and not get distracted with girlfriends. I wouldn’t stop them from having a girlfriend. My kids are very responsible already, I feel. They are very level-headed. My elder son is studying in New York, doing business management. My younger son is in the eleventh, and he has been doing online classes. They are very much into their studies now, let’s see,” he said.

Bobby faced a lull in his career a few years ago, before he bounced back with Race 3. He previously said that what kept him going during this time was the thought that he did not want his sons to see him as a ‘loser’.

“A family lives together and feels everything together, be it happiness or sadness. That’s the true meaning of a family. If somebody is going through a bad time, people around them – wife, mother, father, sister – they all feel the pain. I wish it’s something that I didn’t have to go through because it was because of my own doings that I kind of pushed myself away from my profession and put myself in that situation. Definitely, when I used to see my kids looking at me and wondering why their father doesn’t go to work and is always home, that kind of made me realise that I cannot do this to them and I cannot let them feel this. I snapped out and decided that whatever happens, I will do my best and be prepared. Work can come knocking at my door any day and I have to be ready to take it up,” he said.

Bobby said that Aryaman and Dharam are ‘really happy’ with the second innings of his career. “I sit with them and talk to them because they are slightly grown up now and I tell them that I am trying to do different stuff. They know exactly what kind of characters I play, I tell them beforehand. This film is something which the new generation will really like. My sons were very excited when I showed them stills from the shoot and they said, ‘This is something that we really want to watch’,” he said.

Also read: Dharmendra says Bobby Deol ‘doesn’t take care of himself’, Sunny Deol isn’t a ‘show-off’. See his tweets

Bobby also talked about his father Dharmendra’s tweets about sadness and heartbreak and called him a ‘very emotional person’. “He is not someone who has a defence mechanism. When he speaks, he speaks from his heart. Everybody in their real life, when they are sad, they don’t want to show it. When they are happy, that is the only time they show it. My dad is just a romantic, very emotional kind of person, who expresses himself like that. That’s what makes him so unique from the rest of the people in the industry,” he said.