Bobby Deol she got emotional talking about her father, the veteran actor DharmendraIn Aap Ki Adalat, recalling childhood memories that continue to shape his life even today. From being affectionately nicknamed “Kaddoo” to waiting late for her father to return home from work, Bobby He shared several personal anecdotes about growing up in the Deol household.Bobby revealed that the nickname “Kaddoo” came from his father. “My cheeks were very round and I was a chubby kid. We were in a farm growing vegetables, and I saw a big round vegetable and I asked my father what it was. He said ‘Kaddoo’. From that day on, he started calling me Kaddoo,” Bobby said, adding that he didn’t mind the nickname because Dharmendra always called it with love.The actor also opened up about the close bond he shared with his parents while growing up. Bobby said he slept in his parents’ room until he was 14 and considers himself lucky to have spent those years with them so closely.“I used to wait for my father to come home from the shoots. He often worked three or four shifts during the day and came back very late at night. When I was sick, he would hold me close and put me to sleep. The comfort I felt at that moment was something else. I was very lucky,” he said.Bobby revealed that his habit of sleeping with the light on also comes from Dharmendra. “My father always liked a little light in the room when he slept. Since I slept next to him for 14 years, I adopted the same habit. Even after marriage, my wife and I used to argue because I wanted a little light in the room. Now he’s used to it.”
How Dharmendra inspired Bobby’s acting dream
Despite having a sheltered childhood due to security concerns, Bobby said he knew from a very young age that he wanted to be an actor.Recalling a classroom exercise in elementary school, Bobby said, “When the teacher asked me what we wanted to be when we grew up, I said I wanted to be a hero. At that age I didn’t even know what being a hero was.”The realization happened when Dharmendra started accompanying him to film sets.“I saw how people looked at my father. The love in the eyes of the public and his fans was something I didn’t see for other actors. That became one of the biggest reasons I wanted to become a hero. I wanted to receive the same love from the audience.”
Dharmendra’s young car playing on the screen
Bobby also fondly recalled that he made his acting debut portraying the younger version of his father in the 1977 film Dharam Veer.“I came home from school and my father asked me: ‘Will you play my childhood role?’ I immediately said yes,” he recalled.The actress laughed as she recounted how she was embarrassed by the costume she was asked to wear and later discovered that the heavy hammer in one scene had been replaced with a fake prop because she couldn’t lift the real one.After the shoot, Bobby asked his father about his payment. “He opened his bag, took out a bundle of 10,000 euros and told me to give it to my grandmother and ask her to distribute it among the workers.”For Bobby, the most emotional aspect of his journey is that it began and ended with his father.“My first film was about my father’s childhood. And in his last film, where a younger version of him was shown, the voice used was mine. I feel very lucky that I could be part of those two moments in his cinematic journey,” he said.Talking about Dharmendra’s place in his life, Bobby became emotional and summed it up, “There has never been anyone like my father.”
