Abhay Deol

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 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.

Deol has been described by the Indian media as an actor who continuously understands how to play complex characters. He has 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 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 ₹1.53 billion (US$21 million) 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 ₹200 million (US$2.8 million) in India.

Abhay Deol’s birthday note: Got my butt slapped for the very first time on this day! (Many many moons ago)

Bollywood actor Abhay Deol, who made his mark with films like 'Socha Na Tha', ‘Dev D' and 'Zindagi Milegai Na Dobara' celebrated his 44th birthday on March 15th. The actor is known for his quirky and satirical sense of humour on social media and his cheeky birthday post for himself is the proof of it. Taking to his Instagram account Abhay wrote, 'That doctor made me cry! But she was pretty so I was okay with it. Set a precedent. #pervybaby #masochist #happybirthday #thankyou.’ The joke read, ‘Got my butt slapped for the very first time on this day! (Many many moons ago)’. While fans had a hearty laugh about the tweet, many flooded his comments section with some warm birthday messages.

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Abhay Deol might not be among the A-listed Bollywood actors but he sure lights up the screen every time with his presence. On his 43rd birthday, let's have a look at some of the unknown facts about him.

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Today is 37th birthday of Abhay Singh Deol (born 15 March 1976), better known as Abhay Deol, Indian film actor and producer whose family has a long history in the Hindi film industry. Abhay Deol has appeared in films such as Dev.D, Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!,...