Bobby Deol & Samir Karnik Movies Together List — 4 Films

The shape of the work

The 2000s account for 75% of everything they made together. The 2000s belonged to Nanhe Jaisalmer; the 2010s to Yamla Pagla Deewana. Bobby Deol acted in every film; Samir Karnik directed all of them. Strictly Hindi cinema — they never crossed industries together.

Partnership facts

• Samir Karnik cast Bobby Deol in 'Nanhe Jaisalmer' (2007) after seeing him in a short film Bobby had made for his own kids. Karnik said Bobby's natural warmth with children was exactly what the role needed.
• On the set of 'Heroes' (2008), Karnik realized Bobby was terrified of horses. So Karnik made him spend two weeks just grooming and walking with the horse before they shot a single riding scene. Bobby later said that patience turned his fear into the film's most convincing action sequence.
• During 'Vaada Raha' (2009), Bobby's father Dharmendra visited the set unannounced. Karnik got so nervous directing in front of a legend that Bobby had to pull him aside and say, 'Just treat him like any other actor.' They still laugh about that moment.
• Karnik introduced Bobby to his older brother Sunny Deol on the sets of 'Heroes'. That meeting led directly to Sunny agreeing to star with Bobby in 'Yamla Pagla Deewana' (2011) — the film that revived Bobby's career after a slump.
• Bobby Deol once said about Karnik: 'Samir is the only director who saw me as a father before he saw me as a star. He trusted me with a child actor when no one else would.'
• Karnik deliberately wrote the role in 'Vaada Raha' (2009) to let Bobby improvise his comic timing — something no other director had done with him before. Bobby ended up rewriting half his own dialogues on set, and Karnik kept every single change.