Bob Deol on being called ‘unprofessional’ early in his career: ‘Nobody says anything about superstars of today, because they have a market’

Bob Deol was a significant star in the 1990s and the early 2000s, but the time 2010s commenced, he disappeared from the limelight and became a half-remembered name, particularly to those who weren’t old enough to have seen his early movies. This was despite him being the son of yesteryear superstar Dharmendra.
But in the last couple of years, Deol has made a comeback of sorts through the streaming space, in what is being called his second-innings. He has earned acclaim for his performance in the ZEE5 film Love Hostel and the MX Player original series Aashram.
In a recent interview with BBC Hindi, Deol spoke about his early success and also his steep fall, when he was no longer a bankable star. There were also rumours circulating at the time about him being “unprofessional”.

He denied the accusations and said in Hindi, “Those charges were hurled at me without basis. I have not cancelled the shooting ever, I haven’t ever been late. Unfair fabrications about me were doing rounds — I wondered how people could say such things at a time when I was already low.”

Asked if such things used to bother him, he said, “Obviously. When somebody calls you unprofessional, and you are not. My attitude is pretty relaxed. When I was on the set, I used to say to the crew members jokingly, ‘Kab tak shooting hai? Pack up kab hoga? (When will the shooting end? When’s the pack up?)’ It’s not as if I was avoiding work. People would say, ‘He’s very laidback. He is not interested in work. Keeps asking about pack up’.”
He added that he knows of many superstars in Bollywood who are always in a hurry and keep saying they have places to be. “But nobody says anything about them. Because they have a market. But when there are people like me, who have a limited market, people jump at you at the first opportunity,” said Deol.