In Arjun(1985) two years after his debut in Betaab Sunny Deol gave a remarkably restrained fine-tuned performance in this tautly-written Javed Akhtar script about a student who is waylaid and exploited by an evil politician(Anupam Kher). Rahul Rawail’s direction captured Deol in his most implosive avatar,creating sparks in the dark that ignite the screen even today. Sunny’s special lifelong friend Dimple Kapadia played his love interest. The film has a handsome supporting cast and a powerhouse impact.
Dacait(1987) was inspired by Raj Kapoor’s Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai and Nitin Bose’s Ganga Jumna. It is Deol’s most powerful social statement to date. It touched on caste discrimination and social inequality and how these fostered a rebellious generation. Deol was marvellously reined-in as the simple villager who transforms into a dreaded dacoit. The film featured two other powerhouse performances by Rakhee Gulzar as Sunny’s mother and Paresh Rawal as a corrupt cop.Gripping even today from first frame to last.Not a boxoffice success, as it was found to be way too dark and tense.
With J P Dutta’s Yateem(1988) a tale of an orphan who is almost seduced by his foster mother(Sujata Mehta) , began Deol’s association with J P Dutta. Like Rahul Rawail Dutta knew which emotions to tap in the introspective actor to make his personality erupt into a welter of angry protests. The film was underrated and rejected on release. Ishwar Bidri’s camara work gave a physical shape to Deol’s anger.
Pankar Parasher’s ebullient Chaalbaaz(1989) was a very rare comic outing for the ever-sullen Sunny , and that too in a female-centric film. Just this once Sunny didn’t mind taking a backseat, as the woman at the helm was the one and only Sridevi. Even Rajnikanth played second fiddle. Sunny and Rajni enjoyed encoring Sanjeev Kumar and Dharmendra’s roles from Seeta Aur Geeta.
Ghayal(1990) I rate as the most important hit of Sunny Deol’s career, Ghayal began Deol’s association with director Raj Kumar Santoshi.A blood-soaked vendetta tale, it starred Sunny as Ajay Mehra who goes on a rampage when the villain Balwant Rai(Amrish Puri) kills Ajay’s brother(RajBabbar) . Not as astutely scripted as Arjun or Dacait, Ghayal nonetheless is the biggest hit of Sunny’s career. It took on Aamir Khan’s hit Dil at the boxoffice and outdid its collections.
The very violent and influential cinema of N Chandra came to Sunny Deol after Chandra’s smaller but more impact-filled Ankush and Pratighaat. Chandra’ s Narasimha cast Sunny as a drunken waylaid right-hand man to a tyrant politician in dark glasses mysteriously named Baapji(Om Puri). There were interesting conflicts running through the plot, though finally these conflicts didn’t work themselves out. Nonetheless an interesting performance by Deol.
The role of the sozzled lawyer who fights the rape victim(Meenakshi Sheshadri) ’s case in Raj Kumar Saontishi’s Damini was inspired by Paul Newman in The Verdict. Deol who has never touched a drop of alcohol in his life took on extended cameo of tipsy lawyer in this Meenakshi Sheshadri vehicle because of his faith in the director Raj Kumar Santoshi. It paid off.
Sunny Dool’s biggest hit Gadar Ek Prem Katha(2001) is also one of Hindi cinema’s most successful films of all times. A mammoth pre-Partition melodrama where Sunny Deol sets off across the border to get his wife Amisha Patel back from Pakistan , the film’s passionate patriotism made it one of the biggest boxoffice successes in the history of Bollywood. Gadar came on the same Friday as Aamir Khan’s historic Lagaan and actually made money in the long run(pun intended).
My favourite Sunny Deol performance was in Raj Kumar Santoshi’s Ghatak(1996). It featured him as a Varanasi –bred idealist who is confronted by monstrous corruption in the city when he has to migrate for the sake of his ailing father. The father-son sequences between Deol and Amrish Puri were masterly in their portrait of unexpressed devotion and love.director Raj Santoshi offered this role to Sunny after Kamal Haasan was unable to do it.
With R Balki’s Chup , Sunny Deol has made a comeback of sorts. He has never looked better.And the hurt in his eyes is still intact.