Abhay Deol

Deol had his biggest commercial success in Zoya Akhtar's ensemble film Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011). His performance was well-received and earned him a nomination for Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor. Deol later appeared in independent films including the drama Road, Movie (2010) and the war film Chakravyuh (2012), while simultaneously working in commercially successful films including the romantic drama Raanjhanaa (2013), and the romantic comedy Happy Bhag Jayegi (2016). He has since starred in the Tamil film Hero (2019) and the Netflix drama series Trial By Fire (2023). Deol is noted for his portrayal of complex characters on screen, and is vocal in his support for parallel cinema in India. Deol owns a production company, Forbidden Films, which he established in 2009. He is an active philanthropist and supports various NGOs.

• Born — 15 March 1976 • Birthplace — Bombay, Maharashtra, India • Occupation — Actor • Years Active — 2005–present • Relatives — Dharmendra (uncle) Sunny Deol (cousin) Bobby Deol (cousin) Esha Deol (cousin) Guddu Dhanoa (first cousin once removed) • Family — See Deol family

Deol was born on 15 March 1976 to Ajit Singh Deol and Usha Deol. He is the nephew of actor Dharmendra, and the first cousin of Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol, Esha Deol and Ahana Deol Vohra. He also has two sisters, Veerta Deol and Ritu Deol. His father, Ajit Deol, who died in 2015, was Dharmendra's younger brother and an actor-director in both Hindi and Punjabi cinema. Abhay Deol stated in an interview with Rediff that he is into acting not because of his father, but because he was involved in theatre since school. "At 18, I decided to take the plunge. It took me 10 years because I didn't want to leave my education to get into films."

In 2014, Deol hosted few episodes of Channel V's crime television series Gumrah: End of Innocence. In 2021, Deol was seen in series 1962: The War in the Hills as Major Suraj Singh, a character inspired from Major Shaitan Singh, in the Disney Channel original film Spin, hailed as Disney's first film centered around an Indian-American family, wherein he played the role of Arvind Kumar, the father of the protagonist Rhea Kumar, and in the crime comedy film Velle.

Deol has been described by the Indian media as an actor who continuously understands how to play complex characters. He appeared on several magazine covers including the Man's World and the Time Out Mumbai, with titles such as "The New Face of Indian Cinema". In 2009, Deol was included in the list of Zoom's "50 Most Desirable Hotties", being placed seventh. Deol learned the Israeli martial art Krav Maga. He has expressed feminist views on social media and has also been vocal about minority and migrant rights in India. In 2014, ahead of the release of his maiden production venture, One by Two, he criticised the company T-Series, at the red carpet of the 20th Screen Awards, for assaulting him, as he refused to get the musical trio Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy to sign an "illegal clause", concerned with the copyright of the film's music.

• Year — Title — Role — Notes — Ref • 2013 — Connected Hum Tum — Host • 2014 — Gumrah: End of Innocence — Host • 2020 — JL50 — Shantanu • 2021 — 1962: The War in the Hills — Major Suraj Singh • Spin — Arvind Kumar — Television film • 2023 — Trial By Fire — Shekhar Krishnamoorthy

The authorities additionally record the heading Abhay Singh Deol. His recorded language was Hindi. His recorded confession was Hinduism.

Abhay Deol is recorded as actor, film producer, writer and screenwriter.

Deol made his film debut in the 2005 Imtiaz Ali's Socha Na Tha, a romantic comedy where he starred opposite Ayesha Takia. The film garnered mostly positive reviews from critics and was an average grosser at the box-office. Deol's performance in the film was well received. His second film role was 2006's romantic drama Ahista Ahista opposite Soha Ali Khan. Deol's first 2007 release was the ensemble comedy drama Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. which emerged as a box-office success. Deol had two more releases in the year, the crime film Ek Chalis Ki Last Local and the thriller Manorama Six Feet Under. The latter won the Best Film at the Mahindra Indo-American Arts Council Film Festival in New York City, and Deol won the Best Actor Award. Deol's sole release of 2008 was dark comedy film Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!. Directed by Dibakar Banerjee, the film had Deol portray a compulsive thief, Lovinder Singh a.k.a. Lucky, and the film's plot follows his exploits. Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! was met with critical acclaim, but suffered heavily because of the timing of its release, a day after the 2008 Mumbai attacks, leading to widespread fear of crowded places. Deol's breakthrough role came in 2009 when he portrayed the titular character in Anurag Kashyap's 2009 neo-noir film Dev.D, a modern-day adaptation of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's classic Bengali romance novel Devdas. The idea behind the film was conceived by Kashyap during a conversation with Deol where the latter spoke about a man frequenting a Los Angeles strip club like a "modern day Devdas". Dev.D. received widespread attention for its distinct visual style, experimental soundtrack, and innovative narrative structure which was unprecedented for any Bollywood film. In a 4 out of 5 star review for The Times of India, Nikhat Kazmi deemed Deol's performance in the film as a "class act". Deol appeared alongside Tannishtha Chatterjee in Road, Movie. Deol made a cameo appearance for an Item number in the movie Tera Kya Hoga Johnny in 2010. In 2009, Deol launched a production company Forbidden Films, with Junction being the film to be picked up by the banner. • Illustration — Deol promoting Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara at a UTV event In 2010, he portrayed Arjun Burman, an investment banker opposite Sonam Kapoor's eponymous lead in the ensemble romantic comedy Aisha, which also starred Ira Dubey, Cyrus Sahukar, Amrita Puri, Anand Tiwari, Arunoday Singh and Lisa Haydon. In 2011, Deol starred in Zoya Akhtar's ensemble comedy-drama road film Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara alongside Hrithik Roshan, Farhan Akhtar, Katrina Kaif and Kalki Koechlin. The story follows 3 friends, who have been inseparable since childhood, had him play the role of Kabir, an architect. They set off to Spain on a bachelor trip for Kabir who is set to be married to Natasha, an interior designer played by Koechlin. He trained to be a deep-sea diver for the film which was filmed in Spain. The film opened to high critical acclaim and grossed worldwide, surpassing Dhoom 2 in the worldwide gross, becoming the ninth-highest worldwide-grosser of all time for a Bollywood film, at the time of its release. Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara won Best Film among other awards, and Deol received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the film. Deol had two releases in 2012, both of which were political thrillers– Dibakar Banerjee's Shanghai and Prakash Jha's Chakravyuh. In the latter, Deol starred alongside Arjun Rampal as a police informer, but later gets involved in a Naxalite movement. The film received mixed reviews from film critics. Shanghai co-starring Emraan Hashmi and Kalki Koechlin was based on the French novel Z by Vassilis Vassilikos. The film opened to positive reviews and Deol's performance as a bureaucrat/IAS officer garnered much acclaim. Raja Sen of Rediff.com applauded Deol writing, "he wears his inscrutability thickly and delivers a strong performance". The film was a surprise hit and went on to gross over in India.

Key • Denotes films that have not yet been released • Year — Title — Role — Notes — Ref • 2005 — Socha Na Tha — Viren Oberoi • 2006 — Ahista Ahista — Ankush Ramdev • 2007 — Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. — Aspi • Ek Chalis Ki Last Local — Nilesh Rastogi • Manorama Six Feet Under — Satyaveer Singh Randhawa • 2008 — Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! — Lovinder 'Lucky' Singh • 2009 — Dev.D — Dev • 2010 — Road, Movie — Vishnu • Tera Kya Hoga Johnny — Himself — Special appearance in song "Shaher Ki Rani" • Aisha — Arjun Burman • 2011 — Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara — Kabir Dewan — Also playback singer for the song "Señorita" • 2012 — Shanghai — T. A. Krishnan • Chakravyuh — Kabir • 2013 — Raanjhanaa — Akram Zaidi / Jasjeet Singh Shergil • The Lovers — Udaji — English film • 2014 — One By Two — Amit Sharma — Also producer • 2016 — Happy Bhag Jayegi — Bilal Ahmed • 2018 — Nanu Ki Jaanu — Nanu • Zero — Aditya Kapoor • 2019 — Chopsticks — Artist • Hero — Mahadev — Tamil film • Line of Descent — Officer Raghav • 2020 — What Are The Odds — Valmik — Also producer • 2021 — Velle — Rishi Singh • 2022 — Jungle Cry — Rudra