Abhay Deol who is known for movies like ‘Socha Na Tha’, ‘Dev D’, ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’ has always kept himself away from the limelight. The actor has admitted in a recent interview that he found it difficult to deal with fame. He did not take his job home, unlike many people and hence, he moved to New York just before the release of Anurag Kashyap’s ‘Dev D’.
The actor said during a chat with Humans Of Bombay, “I was finding it hard to deal with the attention and fame because I started getting flashbacks of when I was a kid. I was a sensitive child and I didn’t like the attention. I liked the art, creativity and medium. I knew that Dev D was going to be big, but I didn’t want to be famous. But at the same time, I wanted to act.”
Thus, there was a conflict within him. “I focused a lot on the negatives. I hadn’t resolved many issues, so I just ran away because I was afraid of being famous and everything that came with it.” Further talking about his time in New York, Abhay added, “When I went there, I knew it wasn’t going to be forever because I was just indulging. I was very destructive. Some actors take their work home. It’s a process to learn how not to be affected. I am not now. I don’t take my work home. You should just embrace the privilege of being an actor and stop taking yourself so seriously. But, that didn’t happen at the end of that year. If anything, I got more and more destructive as the year progressed.”
He revealed that he spent time in New York, like his character from Dev D. Hence, it was self-destructive. Abhay said, “I knew I wasn’t going to stay there. I was just in New York playing the part I played in Dev D, getting drunk, not working and being terrible with my money. It was a waste in that sense. I won’t call it a waste now because I learnt something, but it was destructive. I wanted to come back home and continue to earn and support myself and my family. There are responsibilities, you have to come back. This is a make believe world. I knew it wasn’t going to be permanent, it was a temporary escape.”