Sunny Deol

Born: 19 October, 1961 in New Delhi

Biography: Sunny Deol, born as Ajay Singh Deol, is the son of Dharmendra who has been a leading actor of his times. He is the eldest son of Dharmendra with a younger brother Bobby Deol, who is again a Bollywood actor, and two sisters settled in California. His father remarried Hema Malini owing to which he has two other half sisters Esha Deol (also a successful actress) and Ahana Deol. His cousin Abhay Deol too is an actor.

Deol completed his schooling from Sacred Heart High School, Santacruz and thereafter he studied at Potdar College in Matunga. Spotting his zeal for acting, Dharmendra sent him to Old Web Theatre in Birmingham in England to study acting.

Deol has work in several films and has experienced both success and failure. He made his debut with the superhit film Betaab in 1983. Then he went on to do films like Sunny and Manzil Manzil. But it was the film Arjun (1985) which reestablished his star status. This was followed by some more hits like Paap Ki Duniya (1988), Chaalbaaz (1989) and Tridev (1989). The 1990s saw much more of Deol and a series of box office successes. To mention a few, films like Narsimha, Lootere, Damini, Darr, Jeet, Ghatak, Ziddi and Border really stole the show. His performance in Damini was widely appreciated. He won a National Award and a Filmfare Award for the Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Damini. Another film Ghayal won him the Fimfare Award for Best Actor and a National Film Award.

Then Deol did some more films like Arjun Pandit, Farz, et al before he got a huge break with the blockbuster Gadar – Ek Prem Katha (2001). This film catapulted him to heights of glory. Deol also earned some rave reviews for The Hero: Love Story of a Spy. He has since then appeared in a multitude of films, most of which have failed to make a mark commercially. He also directed a film Dillagi but that too went bust.

Nevertheless, Deol is here to stay in the minds of the Indian audience as the Action King of Bollywood or The Angry Young Man.

AKA & Alternative Spellings: Suny Deol