Bobby Deol says Shekhar Kapur ‘ran away from’ his debut film due to his legacy

Almost 30 years ago, Bobby Deol made his debut with much fanfare with Rajkumar Santoshi’s 1995 romantic action film Barsaat. Mr. India and Bandit Queen director Shekhar Kapur was initially signed to helm the project, but he opted out. On the latest episode of The Great Indian Kapil Show, Bobby revealed that Shekhar ran away because he was “scared” of his legacy. (Also Read: Sunny Deol says his family began flourishing professionally after welcoming his daughter-in-law: Beti ghar mein aa gayi)
When host Kapil Sharma asked if Bobby or the director was scared to launch him, given the massive popularity of his father Dharmendra and elder brother Sunny Deol, Bobby laughed and replied, “Maybe that’s why Shekhar ran away. Shekhar Kapur. He was scared. But then Raj directed the film. But I never thought I was under pressure,” Bobby said on the show.
Shekhar Kapur had even shot a scene with Bobby, before he quit the film to direct his critically acclaimed 1994 crime drama Bandit Queen. Bobby made his debut in Barsaat alongside Twinkle Khanna, and both of them won debut actor awards for the same. The film, produced by Dharmendra’s Vijayta Films, also starred Raj Babbar, Mukesh Khanna, and Danny Denzongpa. It earned ₹29 crore at the box office and was the fifth highest grosser of the year. Interestingly, Bobby starred in another film of the same name in 2005, directed by Suneel Darshan.
Bobby is basking in the success of Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s family crime drama Animal, in which he played the negative role of Abrar. He’ll be next seen, yet again in negative turns, in his debut Tamil film, Siva’s fantasy action film Kanguva against Suriya, his debut Telugu film, the period action adventure film Hari Hari Veera Mallu – Part 1: Sword vs Spirit against Pawan Kalyan, and NBK109, another Telugu tentpole starring Nandamuri Balakrishna.
On the other hand, Shekhar Kapur, who last directed the British romantic comedy What’s Love Got To Do With It? in 2022, is now helming the reboot to his 1983 directorial debut Masoom, titled Masoom: A New Generation, which will launch his daughter Kaveri.