Abhay Deol recalls boycotting award functions after being 'demoted to supporting actor' in Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

Recalling how he was “demoted” to supporting categories for his film Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara during “almost all the award functions” actor Abhay Deol on Friday said the industry “shamelessly” lobbies against an individual in “covert and overt ways”. His comments come in the aftermath of actor Sushant Singh Rajput ’s untimely death that has sparked a debate in Bollywood about insiders versus outsiders. Deol had starred in Zoya Akhtar’s Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara as one of the three leads alongside Hrithik Roshan and Farhan Akhtar. The movie also featured Katrina Kaif, Kalki Koechlin, Naseeruddin Shah and Deepti Naval in pivotal roles. Produced by Excel Entertainment, the film followed the journey of three friends on a trip to Spain and how they overcome problems to rediscover themselves. Taking to Instagram, the actor said during the award season, only Roshan was nominated for the best actor, while Akhtar and he were relegated to supporting actor categories and the film was reduced to a love story. Here is Deol’s post

The actor said he boycotted the award shows over this but his co-star Akhtar wasn’t bothered by it. “There are many covert and overt ways in which people in the industry lobby against you. In this case, it was shamelessly overt. I of course boycotted the awards but Farhan was ok with it,” Deol said. The actor ended his post with #familyfareawards. Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, released in 2011, went on to become a major hit at the box office. (With inputs from agencies)