Covers

Abhay Deol giving us cmf eyes on the cover of this month’s filmi magazine??? Filmfare, STAND UP!!!!

We abso love his pouf on the cover and the spread gets even better with his wet clinging tee revealing all of that yummy hairy chesticals!!! LICKITY LICK!

Aside from him looking completely devourable, Mr Deol gives quite the revealing interview to the mag about his struggles as an actor, how he managed to create his niche, his angst towards his Industry and so much more!

Read on for some major amaaaze highlights from the interview (below).

“I wanted to fight terms like non commercial, art films. There terms judge the film and reduce it to being something that’s either too indulgent or one which no one goes to see. I always wanted to play characters the audience could relate to. For me larger than life is boring. No one believed that realistic and entertaining could co-exist. The idea for Dev. D was mine and when it became a commercial hit, people started noticing me. They understood that being realistic doesn’t have to be arty. When I told an actor about ZNMD and how it would be a nice commercial break for me, he said “You call that commercial?” For me Zindagi is a middle-of-the-road movie. It’s got all the trappings of a Bollywood film yet it doesn’t insult audience intelligence by just being escapist fare.”
- The niche he’s created for himself

“I think my family does what everyone else in the Industry does. They get an image, they confirm to it and then cash in on it. I was trying to not make an image. I knew I’d get hte image of being arty which would work against me. The funny thing I would hear was “Yeh bahut offbeat film hai aap paisa kam lijiye” or “Sir bahut badi commercial film hai, aapke liye aacha hoga aap paisa kam lijiye.”
- Not doing typical “Deol” roles

“There are so many talented actors out there who couldn’t make it because they’re not conventionally good looking or can’t dance and fight like a Bollywood hero. I had to constantly fight not to end up like every other hero who has a six-pack, is topless as often as he can be, dances like a dream and has slow motion shots of him running and saving the girl. I could have so easily fallen into that trap. All you have to do is work out, take steroids and gulp protein shakes. That’s why every guy who comes to Mumbai looks like a beached out body builder. And girls look dolled up all the time. It’s not real. I’d wake up in the morning and think is this what I should be doing?”
- Biggest struggle as an actor

“The advantage is I have seen it up close and personal. I knew it was fake and it passes. Either you’re struggling to succeed or you’re struggling to keep your success. I’d rather struggle to the top. At least I would take forward steps. I see a lot of actors suffering to hold on to their position. They have the potential to do so much more than what they’re doing but because of their image and money they feel they have to continually feed that image. And they lose their edge.”
- Advantage of being “from the Industry”

“It’s always okay your film earned X amount, so you will get only X amount to make your film. Like people said there’s Hrithik Roshan in your film fair enough money is raised on Hirhtik’s name. But I feel the film is a success because of the team. And the sign of the Industry bias is proven since Farhan and I were nominated as supporting actors while Hrithik was nominated in he Best Actor category. This proves that the Industry will put market over basic film fundamentals. If you’re doing well, we’ll give you everything. And if you’re not doing well we will ignore you.”
- Bitterness towards the “bias Industry”

“There’s a lot of money lying with a few. There are people who work the lower rungs who are not paid the wages they should be, there are so many issues. There are so many award functions that people have lost respect for them.”
- Reality checks courtesy of the Industry

“I attribute that to the post Socha Na Tha phase. There wasn’t much coming my way. Most of the big production houses were offering me the role of the third guy who’s comic and idiotic. I turned down those movies.  A lot of them thought he’s given a flop film, why is he turning me down?”
- Being seen as arrogant

“I’m not the romantic type. Not at all. I’m practical. I don’t believe in chocolate and flowers, having candlelight dinners. I don’t necessarily celebrate Valentine’s Day. I will get up one morning and say ‘hey let’s fly to Greece’ -- to me that’s romantic.”
- Not being romantic