Abhay Deol revealed in an interview recently that he ran away to New York when Dev.D was releasing. The actor was having difficulties dealing with fame and didn’t want to be famous but just wanted to act. He felt that the Anurag Kashyap directorial would be big and change his life.
Talking to Humans of Bombay, Abhay recalled, “I was finding it hard to deal with the attention and fame because I started getting flashbacks of when I was a kid. I was a sensitive child, and I didn’t like the attention. I liked the art, creativity and medium. I knew that Dev.D was going to be big, but I didn’t want to be famous. But at the same time, I wanted to act. There was a conflict within me. I focused a lot on the negatives. I hadn’t resolved many issues, so I just ran away because I was afraid of being famous and everything that came with it.”
He went to New York and lived there for a while. “I knew I wasn’t going to stay there. I was just in New York playing the part I played in Dev.D, getting drunk, not working and being terrible with my money. It was a waste in that sense,” said the actor.
He added, “I won’t call it a waste now because I learnt something, but it was destructive. I wanted to come back home and continue to earn and support myself and my family. There are responsibilities; you have to come back. This is a make-believe world. I knew it wasn’t going to be permanent; it was a temporary escape.”
Dev.D was a modern adaptation of the classic Bengali novel written by Sarat Chandra. Also starring Kalki Koechlin and Mahie Gill in pivotal roles, the film was a success at the box-office.