Let the wild rumpus BEGIN! All you need to know about DEOL DHAMAKA!

What is DEOL DHAMAKA?

For the entirety of March 2011 a small but devoted section of the blogosphere will be dedicated to blogging about one of the It families of Hindi cinema in all their attendant glory: the Deols. 

Why is Deol Dhamaka a whole month instead of the usual theme weeks we’ve held in the past?

YOU CANNOT CONFINE THE GLORY OF THE DEOLS TO A MERE WEEK.

I’m participating, obviously, but there are going to be awesome contributions from so many other amazing bloggers too. There will be a LOT of Deol goodness going around this month, and the ever wonderous Amaluu is collecting up all the links to all the posts in one place: HERE so there's no excuse for missing ANY of the Deol deliciousness.

SO WHO ARE THE DEOLS, AND WHAT DO I NEED TO KNOW BEFORE DEOL DHAMAKA KICKS OFF?

Dharmendra

He is dreamy. You have to give him that. Now imagine him dressed up as a cracked out pirate king or something, battling a giant stuffed tiger. You know it's probably happened. 

Also affectionately known as Garam Dharam, or respectfully referred to as Dharam-ji, Dharmendra - born Dharmendra Deol -  is one of the surviving superstars of Hindi cinema, having recently celebrated 50 years in the industry. His debut was in the 1960 film, Dil Bhi Tera Hum Bhi Tere (though the Encyclopedia of Hindi Cinema says he was in an earlier film, 1955’s Railway Platform), but his breakthrough performance is widely regarded to be 1966’s Phool Aur Patthar.

Dharmendra is not only considered to be one of the most handsome men in the entire world, even to this day, when he is well into his 70s,

 Photo from here. Seriously, that man is in his SEVENTIES? So incredibly handsome. 

but is also known for being one of the rare heroes who completely embodied both an earthy masculinity and a tender, romantic sensitivity. This enabled Dharmendra to successfully take on a huge variety of roles in the span of his career – from a spate of social dramas where he was the romantic lead, to light comedies, to roles that called for him to portray a macho action hero. And, especially towards the tail end of his career, the films he signed tend to veer wildly towards the OUTRAGEOUSLY CRACKTASTIC end of the spectrum (which is partly what makes Dharam-ji so awesome in my eyes anyway).

He is probably most famous and beloved for his role as Veeru, the petty criminal with the romantic heart, in Sholay, and maybe most infamous for the controversial real life love between him and Hema Malini. I love him mostly because judging from the persona that comes through in his films and in his interviews, he is quite clearly slightly lunatic, with a heart the size of a small planet, and because he is half responsible for the glorious presence of his beautiful sons Bobby and Sunny in the world. More on that later.

Although Dharmendra is undeniably adored by the masses, and despite some questionable film choices later on in his career, is undoubtedly a dedicated and talented performer, he has pretty much been ignored by the critics  - though he was nominated (a mere 6 times) for his acting prowess, he never got to take home the coveted prize. He has NEVER received any official recognition for his acting talents.

He received the IIFA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007 (and he has received a bunch of similar awards including the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997). The thing about Dharmendra though, is the man has dignity, and is freaking AWESOME. Here’s his quote on receiving the award (before the night):

“I am happy that the IIFA people are honouring me with this award. I have never received an award, however hard I worked. And I'm grateful for that because the constant striving for perfection polished my work. It's good that I did not get any award.”

Quite honestly? No award is big enough for Dharam-ji anyway.

I’ve previously written about Dharam-ji a few times:

Aatank
Badle Ki Aag
Dharam-Veer
Guddi
Sholay
Yamla Pagla Deewana

Sunny Deol

Basically, this is the definition of ADORABLE. 

The oldest son of Dharmendra and his first wife, Prakash Kaur, Ajay Singh Deol is better known as Sunny Deol and often affectionately referred to by fans as “Sunny-paaji” (“paaji” means “big brother” in Punjabi). Launched into Hindi cinema in 1983 in action-romance Betaab, but really making his mark in Ghayal (1990) and Damini (1993), and later in superhit Gadar (2001), Sunny, despite having a real-life reputation as an introverted, shy, teddybear of a guy, established a powerful screen persona as a brawny action hero; a down-to-earth, often slightly naive Punjabi fighter who would brawl for his deeply held (often deeply patriotic) convictions. And he could fight, all right.

He can freaking fight so hard he doesn't even need legs. 

To this day, Sunny is known for his famous dhai kilo ka haath (his 2.5 kilo hands) and for ushering in the age of the muscular action hero in Hindi cinema, pre-Sallu. However, he’s so much more than just good with his fists. Sunny has long been considered the inheritor to his father’s mantle – much beloved by the masses (and especially in the Deols' home state of Punjab), the embodiment of macho action man combined with a sweet sensitive side and a knack for comedy.

As seen in Yamla Pagla Deewana. Oh, look how adorable he is.

Oh, and also there’s that other thing Sunny and his dad have in common…their enthusiasm doesn’t necessarily match their skill level when it comes to dancing. Sunny is kind of INFAMOUS for this one dance from Jeet where it looks like he's stomping enthusiastically on ants. It's very endearing.

Especially now, entering a new phase in his career following the success of Yamla Pagla Deewana, Sunny seems to be confidently shedding the Action Man identity that has been attached to him for so long.

Like - his next role is reportedly as a Sanskrit teacher. And do we all know how I feel about mustaches? Think of my love for Shotgun, FOR EXAMPLE. 

And did I mention that I AM TOTALLY IN LOVE WITH HIM? I had never really given him a second thought before I saw Yamla Pagla Deewana.  I went in thinking I was seeing it for Bobby, and came out with a huge huge crush on Sunny.

But if there’s one thing the lead-up to Deol Dhamaka has taught us, it’s that no-one can resist the lure of Sunny, the quietest and possibly the sexiest Deol.

I had to go there.

I have written about Sunny before here:

Border (but errr, please ignore that in that review I refer to him as my nearly least favourite Deol. OBVIOUSLY times have changed).
Yamla Pagla Deewana

Bobby Deol

Shut up, I love the hair.

Also known as Shameful Pleasure #2; “Booby Deol”, MY ALLTIME FAVOURITE DEOL (except when I’m crushing on his brother).

Sigh. Last year, at the instigation of my long lost bahen Rum, one of the theme weeks we held was Shameful Pleasures Week. And during Shameful Pleasures Week, I revealed a guilty secret: my long repressed love for Bobby Deol. You can read that post here.

The thing is, since I revealed my secret shame, much of that post has become obsolete. For instance: HECK YEAH I BOUGHT AND WATCHED AND LOVED THE CRAP OUT OF NANHE JAISALMER. For instance part 2: what kind of crack was I on that I was too ashamed to buy movies because they had Bobby Deol in them?  I FREAKING LOVE BOBBY DEOL (though I still can’t tell you exactly why. He just has a strange power over me).

So anyway: Bobby Deol. His real name is Vijay Singh Deol, he’s the baby brother of Sunny and youngest son of Dharmendra and Prakash Kaur. Bobby’s first film appearance was at the age of 10, playing a younger version of his father Dharmendra’s character in Dharam-Veer:

 How ADORABLE was baby Bobby? That's him in Dharam-Veer, bottom left.

but his official launch into films as a leading man came with Barsaat in 1995. And although he won a Filmfare Award for Best Debut for Barsaat, real resounding acclaim and success have kind of eluded Bobby since. Even though Sunny and Dharam haven’t necessarily always had critical acclaim on their side, they’ve always had broad mass appeal, but Bobby it seems is still struggling to carve out a solid niche of his own in Hindi cinema. Known for his distinctive long curly hair, his slim frame (in contrast to the brawny bulk of Sunny and Dharam-ji), and his tendency to be quite readily emotional, Bobby is definitely widely known as the romantic hero as opposed to the macho fighter; curiously, the bulk of Bobby’s films haven’t in fact been light frothy romances. Many have a darker edge, thrillers combining action and romance with Bobby seeking justice or playing a jealous lover out for vengeance; on the other end of the spectrum are the extreme cheese-fests like Nanhe Jaisalmer and Vaada Raha. Basically – as long as Bobby dances, glowers, and cries, I’m going to love it.

He's also kind of infamous (around these parts anyway) for being one half of MY FAVOURITE BRODI EVER (since the awesome power of Vininda only lasted 2 films): Bokki. Bobby + Akki. The slashiest, most bromantic partnership ever to hit the screens, basically because of this one film they made together - Dosti: Friends Forever, which instead of being all heartwarming and male friendship affirming, came across as very strongly accidentally implying their characters were secretly in love with each other.
Which I am sure in no small part inspired this, the most genius mashup video ever, which never fails to cheer me up when I am down:

In recent years Bobby does seem to have been exploring a flair for comedy (including self-parody in Yamla Pagla Deewana) which has seen his popularity with audiences and critics alike skyrocket. Funny Bobby = AWESOME BOBBY to the power of AMAZINGTUDE.

Also, did I mention I am also TOTALLY IN LOVE WITH HIM? Don’t make me choose between him and his brother. Seriously. DON’T MAKE ME CHOOSE.

It's ALL about the hair. 

I have written about Bobby previously here:

Humko Tumse Pyaar Hai

Yamla Pagla Deewana

And the additional Deols that you will most certainly encounter this month, only, I can’t guarantee it’s gonna be on THIS blog:

Abhay Deol

You can definitely see the Deol family resemblance.

Pretty much the first question most of the prospective participants asked when we were discussing the idea of a Deol theme week (that turned into a month, because, you know, SO MUCH AWESOME TO CONTAIN IN SO LITTLE TIME) was “Does Abhay count?! Can we include Abhay?”

Besides the fact that we’d lose like 80% of the Deol Dhamaka participants if we banned Abhay, OF COURSE Abhay’s included!

Dharmendra’s nephew (and honestly? spitting image), Sunny and Bobby’s cousin, Abhay is considered by a whole bunch of people to be the real actor in the family.

DO NOT get me started on this.

Abhay was launched (like Sunny and Bobby, by Dharmendra, who turned producer with Betaab) in a fairly mainstream romantic comedy, Socha Na Tha in 2005. But following his launch, Abhay’s film choices have been anything but conventional, with Abhay initially seemingly determined to largely focus on making films that exist firmly outside of mainstream Hindi cinema. He garnered massive acclaim and attention for his standout performance as the lead character in Anurag Kashyap’s modern-day retelling of Devdas, Dev.D.  – the concept of the film, Abhay himself actually pitched.

He made the headlines again recently after appearing in a mainstream Hindi cinema production – Aisha – and then speaking out against it after being absent from all its promotions, voicing his dissatisfaction with the project.

 Obviously Abhay is an actor who considers his roles very carefully and has strong principles – you have to admire that.

Abhay feels constrained by conformity.

I’ve previously written about Abhay here:

Dev.D.

Esha Deol

Esha Deol is the daughter of Dharmendra and Hema Malini – she is the half-sister of Sunny and Bobby. Dharmendra has been quite vocal about his feelings on women in his family entering the film industry (like the Kapoors, he is allegedly against it) but this didn’t dissuade Esha (though this interview is quite sweet – Dharam says he was just being a protective dad and stepped back when Esha made it clear a career in films was what she wanted).

Though sadly, despite Esha’s determination, and the potent filmi khoon running through her veins…how can I put this nicely? …well. Her filmography isn’t exactly inspiring.  Esha got off to a promising start, winning a handful of awards for her debut performance in Koi  Mere Dil Se Poochche  in 2002, but it went downhill from there, and she’s probably best known now for her roles in Dhoom, Yuva and a handful of item numbers.

Like her mother, Hema Malini, she is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer;  she also has a Masters Degree from Oxford University. That's pretty impressive - she's obviously a talented and smart cookie - she just hasn't found success in the film world, sadly.

That’s all I know about Esha. I’ve seen maybe two of her films and I cannot remember a thing about her in them.

I have NEVER previously written about her in this blog. 

Now.  

Let Deol Dhamaka begin!