On Acknowledgement

I was recently watching an interview with Bobby Deol. He has experienced a resurgence in his career over the last few years. What was most striking was the vulnerability and the lack of ego that he showed. He looked like a person who had no delusions about himself, was close to the truth, and did not care about anything other than doing good work.

Bobby Deol was a reasonably successful actor in the 90s. He was never considered a superstar, but his movies did above-average business. He played a lover boy in most of his films. I recall him starring in thrillers or romantic comedies, where it seemed that he played the same character repeatedly. It did not look authentic - he had not found his voice. But throughout the nineties, he was a presence on the silver screen—a son and brother of a superstar who was decent.

Then came the slump. He was without roles, often seen in a cricket league of washed-up actors. There were a few home productions where he was seen referencing his older hits. It looked like he was still living in the past. The glory, the audience, the fame and the money were gone. But he was not ready to accept it.

Hitting a slump after seeing success hits differently. Everybody around you knows that success has left you. But you are the last to acknowledge it. You still consider yourself successful based on the success you had some time ago. However, here is a brutal truth about success: it is a treadmill. You need to keep running to stay at the same place. You need to put in effort to get ahead. Reduce your speed, and you are thrown out. That you ran well at some point - does not matter.

In his interviews now, he acknowledges the slump. He acknowledges the dark days. He acknowledges his sheltered upbringing and how he slowly he moved to the sidelines. He then talks about how he overcame his ego and asked people for work. How he made himself vulnerable and was ok hearing no. How he concentrated on just doing work. He then talks about doing an OTT series, a film as a second league and then finding his groove and voice playing antagonist.

The acknowledgement is a sign of strength. Acceptance is the start of the jounrey which frees you from the trappings of your previous success. This freedom helps you explore things and makes it ok to fail when you try something new. The second most difficult thing is overcoming inertia. The cocoon of falsehoods that we wrap around ourselves to soothe us. Breaking it and starting from zero - willing to fail sets up on the road to success.

Seeing the success of Bobby gives me immense happiness. I wish him the best and hope he gets even bigger success.