Abhay Deol

I am trying to be true to the work that I want to do and be allowed to make the choices that I want to make.

As long as it excites me, I am game for it.

The kind of content I want to be part of is hardly made.

The kind of stories I like often comes from debutant directors.

I am a citizen of the planet and I want to do films that appeal to people, not communities.

I can be lazy, don't get me wrong. But it's not laziness that's holding me back, it's the system where I don't fit in.

I always wanted my work to speak for itself but I realized you have to show people a little bit of yourself and interact with them, especially before your film releases.

I don't see myself being perceived as a Bollywood star and I wouldn't want to be that either.

When you do films after films, you don't let life happen. At least, in my case, I end up relying too much on emotions, which aren't raw enough. Travel helps me to get a renewed approach towards things.

I was termed 'choosy' because when an actor decides to go against the wind and takes on only non-formula films, he is not left with much choice.

The reaction to 'Dev D' success wasn't a balanced one from my end. I ran away! I should have stayed around and seen how I could balance things. But I wasn't capable of that.

I wasn't looking to be a star, I just happened to love acting, I was a reluctant actor.

I feel my advantage of coming from a film family is - having seen fame up close, having seen the industry so close and how it works, I was not enamored by fame.

Love has no nationality for me. I have a preference for dark skin but that's just superficial.

I don't think there's anything like love at first sight. What happens is actually lust at first sight.

Even as a kid, classmates asked pointed personal questions about my family. I have conditioned myself to handle it with maturity.

I don't think that confrontation always leads to a solution.

If I want to do song and dance, I will and I would like to but I don't want to do it in every film. Where is the novelty then? It just takes the fun out of work for me.

Maybe I didn't take the advantage and become a star and get all the brands so that I could solidify my space in the world.

I may or may not get married but I will settle down in a live-in.

I believe there are two kinds of journalists. One who sells a story by being creative, and one who sells a story by being sensationalist.

I always try to do middle-of-the-road cinema.

The craziest thing I've done for love? Put my life on hold.

I have family in America and I lived with them for a while. Every few years, I feel the need to disassociate myself from what I do. It really helps the actor within me.

Los Angeles is much like Mumbai, the film industry rules the city over most other professions, so it feels like home.

I like subtlety, blending in as opposed to screaming out 'look at me' with the way I dress.

It harms me when people say I am 'non-mainstream' or 'non-commercial' actor. I try to fight off such labels.

I dislike labels like 'commercial' and 'non commercial.'

We are always larger than life because we come from this mentality that since we are a very poor nation, we need an escapist cinema to take us out of our miseries. And that's where Bollywood comes from.

If I look at Dad's earlier work - 'Bandini,' 'Satyakam,' 'Chupke Chupke,' 'Jeevan Mrityu' - and then his later work, I realize that when something works, the industry doesn't want you to do anything else. They just typecast and milk you.

I grew up in this industry. I've seen fame up close.

I always pick characters where it's not his muscles or dance skills that help him, because not all of us can look like that. I am more like someone who'd beat up ten guys, not with his muscles, but his strategy.

With my social media posts on fairness creams, I felt really strongly that I needed to speak up about it because I think we can take baby steps. Colour and caste is engrained in our culture, but I don't think it should be applauded or packaged and sold.

There should be a tacit code or understanding among privileged people not to endorse things that give others an inferiority complex.

Half your battle is won when the writing is good, and then you as an artist bring your personality into it.

I don't think I am fearless. I am just me.

I was always looking for relatability, because I am not someone cut out for larger than life roles.

I did get a reputation for being choosy and not very easy to be approached, and none of that is true. It is not that I am not approachable, it is just that I am trying to find myself and establish who I am as an artist.

After 'Socha Na Tha' flopped, nobody wanted to work with me. I became very bitter and angry. So now when the industry and the audience accept me, I feel more empowered.

If you perceive someone to be stylish then even if they are shabbily dressed you would consider that as a new style statement.

I like films that are edgy, provocative, non-formula and original.

I think marriage is a cultural thing - it's my opinion that nature doesn't tell someone to get married.

When a film is good, the lines between single-screen and multiplex blur.

I'm not cut out to play a filmi hero. I don't look like a hero.

Larger-than-life roles have never excited me. I'd rather play someone real who goes through obstacles and becomes a hero.

I know there is a higher being and I respect that force.

In real life I don't chant. Nor do I believe in idol worship.

Tamil for me is my cousin Esha. I even told her that I was preparing to play a Tamilian and asked her if she could teach me the language.

In Indian cinema there are no professional voice trainers.

As a kid I wanted to run away from home every time I got a scolding for being naughty but I never did. Knowing now what happens to unprotected kids on the streets I'm glad I didn't.