Abhay Deol has never shied away from stating his opinions and has been vocal about multiple issues within Bollywood in recent times.
He is currently sharing his Bollywood journey on Instagram, one film at a time. While sharing the poster of his 2012 film Shanghai, he said that the film on systemic corruption is extremely relevant today. Taking a dig at the film industry, he said: “Looks like these days one could make a film about the corrupt practices of Bollywood.”
He also lauded the current outrage against nepotism and exploitation in the film and music industry, in the wake of actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s sudden demise. “By the way, not sure if the current outrage will give rise to an independent Hindi film and music industry, without the unoriginal tag of “Bollywood”, but it sure feels good to hear loud voices from within the industry, risking their careers for the bigger “picture” (pun intended),” he wrote.
Directed by Dibakar Banerjee, Shanghai was a political thriller which also featured Emraan Hashmi, Kalki Koechlin and Prosenjit Chatterjee.
Recently, Abhay had called out the "woke" Indian celebrities who, while remaining silent about the "systemic problems" in their own country, expressed their stand against racism in America over the killing of George Floyd and lent support to the 'Black Lives Matter' movement.
He had also spoken up against lobbying in the industry, citing an experience that he had post the release of Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, which had an ensemble cast—Hrithik Roshan, Farhan Akhtar, Katrina Kaif, and Kalki Koechlin and himself. Noting that Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara is a “great watch when anxious or stressed”, he said he and fellow-actor Farhan Akhtar were “demoted” at all award functions and were nominated as “supporting actors” while Hrithik and Katrina were nominated as “actors in a leading role”
