Out with the old, in with the new

The promising jodi of Karan Deol and Sahher Bambba are all set to make ripples, writes Rajiv Vijayakar ahead of their launch movie

They are the latest in a decades-old “tradition” of newbies who start out together, that too in romantic dramas. Karan Deol is the grandson of the legendary Dharmendra, and the elder son of Sunny Deol, who was himself launched by his father 36 years ago with the blockbuster Betaab. Now it is Karan’s turn to be introduced by his father. And there is Shimla girl Sahher Bambba, minus even a remote film background, who was chosen to co-star with Karan in the romantic film Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas.

The two youngsters are friends, prone to miss each other’s company when giving shots minus the other, and they ascribe this easy friendship to the three months of prep that began at Manali for the film, which included script readings, workshops and spending time together on location just to get to know each other.

“As co-stars, we supported each other, and confided in each other too,” says Karan,his boyish face lit up by easy smiles, and someone who as we discover, is prone to
hearty laughter very easily.

Sahher Bambba

Strangely, for someone who might have got secondary treatment as the film is a designer star-son launch, Sahher seems even more confident. “I have found a second family,” she raves about the Deols. “Today, I can ask or say anything I want to Sunny sir. It’s like a father-daughter relationship.”

We begin with their acting ambitions and she says, “I always wanted to be an actor, and there was no Plan B — this was a dream-come-true. That’s why I had enrolled for a three-year course in Mumbai, though my parents, who were always supportive, had suggested that doing college in Delhi would be easier as we knew people there. And I kept on giving auditions. I even won the Oppo Bombay Times Fresh Face pageant in 2016, and soon I was called for this audition. I decided to give my 200%, and after a couple of rounds, the last one was conducted by Sunny sir himself. This was such a big deal for me even if I did not get the film. But after a week, when my family had come down to Mumbai and we were
ordering a meal at a restaurant, there was a call asking me to meet Sunny sir.”

She chirps happily, “I thought they would call me to inform me that I was okay but not good enough, but they even told me to bring my parents along, and
finalised me.” Karan says that there was certainly no childhood desire to be an actor. “As a kid, you may want to be anything as you do not know your dream. At the age of
five, I watched Star Wars, and every afternoon or evening since, I would subconsciously slip into the world of my father’s films for relaxation. These films, along with good food in front of me, would take me to a different zone. At 18, I told my mother, who was always my confidant as I was a bit scared of my father, and he was busy too, that I
wanted to be an actor.”

He smiles, “Both of them then told me that if I was emotionally and mentally ready to face the evils of the film industry, like flops, negative criticism and the emotional turmoil, they would support me. After that began my training. We were discussing many subjects, talking to many directors, but nothing was clicking. And then we decided to make this film, with my father as director.” Both the youngsters agree that “papa” aka Sunny-sir was a kinder soul off the sets than on. “He will not hesitate to make you do a shot 21 times until he is satisfied,” grins Sahher. “Otherwise, he is so chilled out. But his patience and focus are what has led to the result, which I am very excited about. When I watched the trailer, I broke down.”

Agrees Karan, “As a director, my dad was very strict. It was tough.” So were the locations, despite Sahher being a Shimla girl prone to walking long distances uphill. “One location needed eight hours of trekking, and shooting in sub-zero temperatures,” she says.

The film is a contemporary love story about a boy from Himachal Pradesh who runs both a homestay and an edgy life, and a rich Delhi girl and travel blogger, who comes to interview him. Both the actors are hungry to do all kinds of films, and Sahher is especially fond of rom-coms.