It has been an amazing year for Deol family, says Bobby

MUMBAI: For the Deol family, 2023 has been a great year, says Bobby Deol, elated that his father Dharmendra delivered a superhit in "Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani", while brother Sunny Deol set box office records with "Gadar 2".

The 54-year-old also has a film coming up, "Animal", the first teaser of which went viral on social media with many being curious about his role as an antagonist in the Ranbir Kapoor-led movie.

“It has been an amazing (year for us). God has been really kind," Bobby told PTI, adding that he is excited for his nephew Rajveer Deol, who started his acting journey with Rajshri Productions' "Dono".

"It started with my dad, then my brother, my nephew’s first film came, and now my film (‘Animal’) is coming. So, it has been a great year for us,” he said.

In September, Sunny hosted a grand party to celebrate the success of "Gadar 2", which earned over Rs 600 crore worldwide.

Bobby said it was “nice” to see the film industry coming together for the celebration of the Anil Sharma-directed movie.

“Genuinely, the whole industry felt and enjoyed the success of ‘Gadar 2’. It was a beautiful moment where everybody came and they were so happy. ‘Gadar’ was an emotion that everybody felt and wanted to be part of its celebration," he added.

The party was attended by several Bollywood stars including Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, Ajay Devgn, Kajol, Tabu, Sanjay Dutt, Jackie Shroff, Shahid Kapoor, Sidharth Malhotra, Kiara Advani, Varun Dhawan, Arjun Kapoor, among others.

He also expressed gratitude to the fans for their unending love and support for the Deol family.

"The love has never stopped towards my family, it has always been there. It’s just that even the people who love us, our fans want to see something interesting (from us). So when you give them something interesting, they get happy," Bobby said.

The actor said he is now looking forward to audiences' reaction to "Animal", set to be released in theatres on December 1. Directed by Sandeep Reddy Vanga of "Kabir Singh" fame, the crime drama also stars Anil Kapoor and Rashmika Mandanna.

“It is amazing. I’ve never seen a teaser of any of my films getting such a reaction. The whole team has worked hard. Everybody appreciated it. My shot was such that logo ke dhyaan mein zyada reh gaya (It stayed with people more)." Bobby credited Vanga for giving importance to every character in the teaser that was launched earlier this month.

"Ranbir is an amazing actor, Anil and everybody. The director is one of my favourite directors and he has done a great job. Why people liked my one shot is because the director placed it that way. For him, everything in the frame is important and every character is important. So he had to show that,” he added.

Of late, the actor has been praised for portraying negative characters with ease in “Aashram” and “Love Hostel”.

At a panel discussion during Jagran Film Festival, Bobby said he enjoys playing roles that challenge him.

“I like playing challenging roles, whether it is negative or positive. Every person has something good and bad in them. There are certain things that are built (in you), like you are greedy, selfish and egoistic... All of us have these emotions but you become a good person when you control these things.

"When you perform a negative character then you bring those feelings and when you play a positive character then you learn those good things. I like playing both negative and positive parts. Right now, I’m dying to do something positive, so I’m hoping people offer me a strong positive role,” he said.