Surviving for 30 years, with a journey that saw his resurgence as Bobby 2.0- Bobby Deol today is in his best form. He recently travelled to the Toronto International Film Festival for the world premiere of his upcoming film Bandar, and plays a pivotal role in Aryan Khan’s directorial debut The Ba***ds of Bollywood.

Interestingly, he is the so-called ‘insider’, the son of superstar Dharmendra. And the show is about an outsider’s journey in showbiz. He feels strongly about the chatter around these tags, “My dad was an outsider. I know everything inside-out… exactly how it is to be an outsider and insider. Everyone has dreams, irrespective of where they are from. Everyone has different things written for them. I just think people who… it’s easy to make excuses when you can’t achieve things.”

The 56-year-old’s journey, for instance, hasn’t been easy always. After delivering hits in the initial years of his career, he witnessed a dip, made a comeback with Race 3 after many years. And then came Animal in 2023, which brought him back into the game. “People make things sound like ‘oh it’s because I am outsider’ or ‘oh it’s because I am an insider’ They have to work hard, be focused and at it. Anyone can come knocking at your door, you have to be prepared. Insider bhi excuse bana sakte hain ki hamare upar itna pressure hai isiliye hum kaamyaab nahi ho rahe’. Outsider ka toh hai hi ki voh baahar se aa rahe hain. It makes a difference whether you are working hard or not, regardless of where you are from. Varna kuchh nahi hone wala aapka. Stop making excuses and just work hard,” says Bobby, whose debut film Barsaat had released in 1995.

People might call him ‘Bobby 2.0’, but he laughs, “Yeh sab toh aap log bolte hain. For my fans I am still the same Bobby. They are happy that I am doing this kind of work today, like The Ba***ds of Bollywood. They had belief in me when maybe I had lost it myself. Hard work turns into luck, I am lucky.”