Bobby Deol on Aashram 3 being slammed by critics: 'You can't please everybody'

Actor Bobby Deol is currently enjoying the praise and love that he’s getting for playing a self-proclaimed godman, Baba Nirala, in Aashram 3 . But not many are impressed with the script of the third season of the series by Prakash Jha. “All I can say is that writing is not an easy job. You can’t please everybody. Everyone has an opinion. Everyone can voice it. It’s like you and I can look at the same object. You might like it and I might not like it. It always happens. That’s part and parcel of being in this industry. Nothing can be perfect,” he tells Firstpost. Sharing an example, he says, “If you see _Game of Thrones_ or any other show, not every season gets the same kind of appreciation. It’s bound to happen."Aashram 3 dropped earlier this month and it got more than 100 million views in just 32 hours of its release. He didn’t expect the overwhelming figure. “When I did the first season, I looked at it as an actor. I was never given opportunities to do a different role besides the ‘richi rich, suave characters’. I was trying really hard to break away from that image,” adds Bobby Deol. “Times have changed. It’s more about teenage love stories and all that. I wanted to play a role that was more mature, interesting for viewers to watch and something out of my comfort zone,” he adds. He remembers the day when Jha, called him. “I’d wanted to work with him for long. In between, we met but things didn’t work out. I met him for the first time when I was dubbing for Gupt. I still remember it because meeting a big director like Prakash ji was a big moment for me. He looked at me and said, ‘you are a very good looking boy. I hope we work together one day’. I said, ‘Yes sir definitely’. Then nothing happened. Years later, he called me,” recalls Deol. He is aware that actors easily get typecast in the industry, so when he heard the synopsis of Aashram, he thought that he would be offered the role of Ujagar Singh, played by Darshan Kumar in the web series. “I thought so because of my image. Then after he (Jha) narrated, he said, ‘I want you to play Baba Nirala’. I was shocked, surprised and excited. I was like ‘God I am trying so hard to do characters that are totally out of my comfort zone, and here Prakash ji is giving it to me straight into my hands’. So that’s how the journey began,” he says with a smile. When he accepted the show a few years ago, he just wanted to do good work. “I wanted to prove myself as an actor. I never thought about the success of Aashram because we can never gauge or calculate the success of any show or any movie that we do. We don’t know how audiences are going to react to it,” says Deol. He has been playing the evil character since 2020. [caption id=“attachment_10837671” align=“alignnone” width=“300”]  Still from Ashram 3[/caption] “The story was such that it couldn’t have been justified in one season. And the characters’ growth and progress had to be shown. Also, because of the success of the first two seasons, people wanted to know what happened further,” he says. The series, which also stars Chandan Roy Sanyal, is getting another season. “I never imagined 3 seasons. We have already announced the fourth season. Whenever I watch a series, I always want the ending to be a culmination of the whole story. They can’t keep you lingering on forever. So let’s see what happens,” he shares. Class of ‘83 and Love Hostel are his other two OTT projects that also earned love from his fans. “It is the best stage of my acting career. OTT has given me the opportunity to do roles that were never offered to me. I am so grateful to OTT platforms for giving me that opportunity,” he says. “When you make a film, people talk about box office then they cast according to that. They never really use the potential of an actor because it’s all about box office. OTT gives a platform where actors’ potential can be utilised, and that makes it even more interesting,” says the actor, who has starred in films like Soldier, Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya, Ajnabee, Humraaz and Yamla Pagla Deewana. Among upcoming films, he has Apne 2 with his father Dharmendra and brother Sunny Deol. “The scripting is going on. The script can’t falter. Appreciation only comes when you write a proper script. Scripting is taking time, but eventually it will be done the right way and I think we will come out with Apne 2 next year,” he says. His nephew Karan Deol also features in the film. As for his son Aryaman Deol, he wants him to focus on education right now. “My beta is still studying. He just turned 21. He’s studying business management in New York,” he says. In fact, the Badal actor always advises youngsters to educate themselves first. “So that when they get into the field, it can broaden the horizon. You can use intelligence and knowledge to do a lot of things besides acting. An actor’s life is full of uncertainties,” he says. Natalia Ningthoujam is a Manipur-based journalist. She knows how to smoothly switch from being a fan to a writer whenever needed. She tweets at @nattynick. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News ,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.