Abhay Deol sheds light on decision to not have a star image: ‘It’s by choice’

Bollywood actor Abhay Deol recently sat down for a chat and revealed the real reason he does not wish to have ‘star image’.

He got candid about it all during his interview with the Times of India and was quoted saying, “People want to interview me, I get interviewed. People recognise me, they tell me they love my work.”

“I don’t feel the lack of recognition at all. If there is any lack of, it’s the lack of investing in a PR machinery to keep me in the news all the time, and project a star image, which I was never interested in.”

“So I do lack that star image, which I myself have to feed. Because all the stars have a PR machinery behind them that feeds into that narrative. I don’t have that, and that’s by choice.”

During the course of his interview, he also compared Indian actors to Hollywood stars and admitted, “But I cannot sit here and say that I am not recognised… People love my work and they tell me that all the time. It’s sad that in India particularly, more so than in America, you just have to constantly feed the beast and stay in the news.”

“We’ve created a system where, unless I see you every other day endorsing 10 brands, you’re not recognised. What happened to just the fact that people love you and say that they do and that journalists want to speak to you and papers are interested in what you have to say?”