Legendary Bollywood actor Dharmendra is sharing the big screen with his two sons for the first time in his new movie “Apne” — and he’s not ruling out another family affair in the future.
Dharmendra, whose career spans five decades and hundreds of films, is the head of one of Indian cinema’s top acting dynasties, with sons Sunny and Bobby Deol also major stars.
But “Apne” — set for worldwide release on June 29 — marks the first time they have appeared on the silver screen together.
Dharmendra and the Deol brothers said Thursday at the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards in Leeds, in the north of England, that the film was about family life, focused on a father and his two sons.
“We were waiting for this moment for the last so many years and we were searching for a script to work together and got it,” Dharmendra told AFP in an interview, adding that it had been created with his family in mind.
Asked whether he would be keen to work with Sunny and Bobby again in the future, the 71-year-old actor, who also sits in India’s parliament, revealed that another project could be imminent.
“Let’s see,” he said. “My director is like a son to me. He just starts to think of another idea he has of our family so there is something in his mind and our mind about three conmen.”
“That will be something different and a very emotional family drama. It’s in the pipeline, we’re talking about scripts.”
Dharmendra is one of Bollywood’s biggest stars alongside Amitabh Bachchan, with a career dating back to the 1960s.
He was often cast as a tough guy in his heyday in films such as “Sholay” — a mantle which Sunny, sometimes known as “the Rambo of India,” has now taken on.
Sunny, whose hits include “Gadar,” said that spending so much time with his family on set was like returning to childhood.
He too hinted that some of the movie’s themes echoed the relationship between him, his brother and father.
“What happens, it’s nothing to do with our family life but there are certain issues and emotional levels which are very similar,” he said.
“If your dad wants you to do something and you go along with it and then you have enough about it and there’s an argument… these are scenes which one sees in one’s everyday life.”
Bobby — who is set to star alongside Abhishek Bachchan, another son of a Bollywood legend, in the upcoming movie “Jhoom Barabar Jhoom” — credited his father with keeping him calm as the film was being made.
When filming first started, he said, “I was quite nervous at that point, but my dad has always made life comfortable for us. He just saw that I didn’t loose my cool.”
He also credits Dharmendra with being the top actor on the Bollywood block for his humanity.
“My father has always been my father first and then the actor,” he said. “When I compare him to others, he is the best — he’s someone very down-to-earth.”
“Apne” also stars Shilpa Shetty, who found fame in Britain earlier this year following a row over alleged racist bullying as she won the reality television show “Celebrity Big Brother.”
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