Esha Deol says Dharmendra didn’t want her to pursue acting

Esha Deol made her acting debut 22 years ago with Boney Kapoor’s ‘Koi Mere Dil Se Poochhe’. Despite coming from an illustrious film family - her half-brothers Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol and her parents Hema Malini and Dharmendra being some of the biggest actors in the Hindi film industry - breaking into Bollywood wasn’t easy for her due to her father’s reservations. In a recent conversation, Esha spoke about convincing Dharmendra to let her pursue acting.

Speaking to ‘Bollywood Hungama’, Esha said, “When I wanted to join movies, it was a little… to get the green signal to join films, but once that happened, Boney ji (Kapoor) showed me the script of ‘Koi Mere Dil Se Poochhe’. I also liked ‘Na Tum Jaano Na Hum’ and I was shooting for both these films simultaneously.”

When asked which parent was more difficult to convince when you wanted to get into films, she responded, “My dad. Not because of anything else, but because he is more protective as a male and he wanted to keep us more private. I was, on the other hand, all excited and ready to fly.”

In an earlier interview with a leading media house, Esha shared how Dharmendra was ‘possessive and orthodox’ when it came to her and that, according to him, “Girls should be kept away from the world in a protected way.” She said, “I wouldn’t say that they have it tough. Yes, there is a different level of challenge and boys too have their own set. As far as my father is concerned, he is possessive and orthodox and for him, girls should be kept away from the world in a protected way. That was what he must have felt, also knowing how our industry functions. All said and done, we managed and how.”

On the professional front, Esha was last seen in the web show ‘Hunter Tootega Nahi Todega’.