Can Sunny days return once again? 

Sunny Deol is 62 and more than 100 films old. Let there be no doubt that he is one of the most successful actors of his generation. There have been times when cursory generalisations have underrated his talent as an actor. But a slightly closer look reveals that he has delivered several fine performances – and blockbusters.

What, then, is going wrong for Sunny? The answer can be partly seen in Neeraj Pathak’s Bhaiaji Superhit, a vacuous comedy few have liked. The story of a don (Sunny) who wants to act in a film, Bhaiaji Superhit, has an abundance of cliches and unfunny jokes. A box-office turkey, it is yet another disappointing film from the actor in recent times. Misfortune has stalked him, too.

Dr Chandraprakash Dwivedi’s socio-political film Mohalla Assi hit the marquee recently. Endlessly delayed and shortened by hatchet jobs of the censorial kind, the film had a low key release. Mohalla Assi’s plot is set in Varanasi. It is 1988, a significant year in which the Indian society is in the throes of unsettling turbulence. The story is a reality tale, and also a cautionary one, with references to Babri Masjid and the Mandal Commission which triggered student protests across the country. Deol plays a well-meaning and conservative Brahmin who must reflect on his values and prejudices while watching the flow of life in a closely knit ‘mohalla’ (locality). A relevant film with a rich subtext, the film failed to attract viewers.

The story of three men (one of them Sunny) who find their photographs in an advertisement for vasectomy, the film hurled a big bag of dim-witted gags at the audiences. Predictably, few enjoyed them, Radhika Rao and Vinay Sapru’s I Love NY, starring a miscast Sunny opposite Kangana Ranaut, was also released after a long delay. But this was no Mohalla Assi, a boring romcom about what happens after Deol’s character comes across his opposite number (Kangana Ranaut) during New Year’s Eve, the film tanked without a whimper. Not many filmmakers would have extended the Yamla Pagla Deewana series beyond the first film. But papa Dharmendra and his two sons did exactly that.

Yamla Pagla Deewana (2011), the first part, was a reasonably likeable film with viewer-friendly comic moments. The sequel titled Yamla Pagla Deewana 2 (2014), was repetitive and much less funny. A reboot that was released this year, Yamla Pagla Deewana Phir Se was a badly written wreck. Every aspect of the film was panned, acting included.

Most Hindi film-goers would remember Sunny in Rajkumar Santoshi’s hard-hitting film Ghayal (1990). As an amateur boxer who takes revenge for his brother’s murder, he had performed most creditably, which was acknowledged with the National Film Award-Special Jury Award. Ghayal Once Again, the 2016 self-directed sequel, showed him as a reporter and vigilante who helps the police and has to rescue his trapped daughter in the long run. Marred by a weak story, the film had hardly anything worth writing home about.

Sunny, as the director-actor-co-writer, simply proved that he must stick to what he does best. The actor must make some intelligent choices to ensure that his sinking ship sails once again. He might wish to act in films with small budgets and good stories. Sunny needs to go where he has gone before. The talented actor in him must wake up once again.