Abhay Deol says Bollywood is ‘very cliquish’: ‘It doesn’t matter if you’re from a film family’

Abhay Deol feels that Bollywood operates like a clique, where ‘loyalty’ is rewarded. The actor, who is the nephew of veteran actor Dharmendra and the cousins of actors Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol and Esha Deol, also said that being a part of a film family does not necessarily guarantee being included.

“Look at the end of the day, we, as a culture, reward loyalty more than we reward innovation. We are just culturally built like that. So it doesn’t matter if you’re an insider or an outsider, if you show loyalty you can get very far,” Abhay told Zoom, adding that he has always tried to ‘do something different’ and ‘step out of the mainstream’.

Abhay said that though he could have done so, he did not ‘build any bridges’. “It’s not that bad, it’s you as an individual if you choose to stay away from the crowd, then it doesn’t matter if you’re from the inside, you will be excluded from the crowd. But if you want to be in the crowd, I mean Bollywood is very cliquish, we all know that. So you can pick a clique and if someone takes a fancy to you and thinks, ‘okay I can do something with this person,’ then it doesn’t matter if you’re from a film family or not, you’ll get taken in,” he said.

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In 2005, Abhay made his Bollywood debut with Socha Na Tha. Since then, he has worked in films such as Oye Lucky Lucky Oye, Dev D, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara and Shanghai. He has also made his presence felt in the digital space with the Netflix original film Chopsticks, Zee5 original film Line of Descent and web series such as JL50 and 1962: The War in the Hills.

Currently, Abhay is gearing up for the release of the Disney film Spin, in which he plays the father of a teenager who discovers her love for creating DJ mixes. The film will release on Disney+ Hotstar this Independence Day (August 15).