Actor Abhay Deol may be Dharmedra's nephew, but he has managed to work his way into Bollywood pretty much on his own, guided by his instincts. His debut film Socha Na Tha (2005), directed by Imtiaz Ali, a debutant himself then, was of course produced by his uncle. But after that Abhay has tried to do his own thing.

Even though his debut was praised by the critics, Abhay did not taste commercial success. His next few films, like Ahista Ahista (2006) and Manorama Six Feet Under (2007) were flops, while the multistarrer Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd (2007) was a box office success. His Ek Chalis Ki Last Local (2007) did average business. The actor also excelled in Dibakar Banerjee's Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! (2008), which did fairly good business at the box office. Abhay's forthcoming release is Dev D (2009), a film by Anurag Kashyap, which is a modern-day take on Sarat Chandra's novel Devdas. There are already three versions of that film in Hindi, and this will be the fourth. Abhay is the one who conceived of Dev D (2009), which he promises, is radically different, from any other kind of Devdas that we have seen. The actor has a long way to go, but he has ensured that he has an interesting journey ahead because of his choice of films.