By:
Subhash
K.
Jha,
IndiaFM
Friday,
July
20,
2007
The
success
of
the
Deols'
family-film
Apne
has
given
the
sleeping
lion
Sunny
Deol
a
chance
to
rise
and
shine
as
never
before.
Sunny
has
taken
several
hard
decisions.
One
of
them
is
to
turn
director
with
a
film
called
Man.
"My
Apne
writer
Neeraj
Pathak
narrated
this
subject
and
I
instantly
fell
for
it.
Unfortunately,
we
couldn't
get
the
project
on
the
road
because
I
got
busy
with
Apne.
Now
that
Apne
has
been
accepted
so
warmly,
I've
gathered
the
courage
to
revive
that
project.
And
yes
I'll
be
directing
and
producing
Man
along
with
Neeraj."
Neeraj
will
be
billed
as
the
co-director
of
Man.
Explains
Sunny,
"We're
working
so
closely
on
every
aspect
of
the
project,
from
script
to
casting,
it'd
be
tough
to
draw
a
line
between
Neeraj's
creative
input
and
mine.
Therefore,
the
credit
titles
will
read
our
names
as
co-directors."
Interestingly,
Sunny
has
given
the
film
industry
several
talented
directors
including
Raj
Kumar
Santoshi
and
Gurinder
Chaddha(who
made
the
aborted
London
for
Sunny).
"It's
another
matter
that
they've
started
with
me
and
moved
on," laughs
Sunny
mirthlessly.
Even
more
interestingly
Sunny
is
the
only
star
from
his
generation
to
have
taken
the
plunge
as
a
director.
"I
directed
Dillagi
with
my
brother
Bobby
and
me
in
the
lead
eight
years
ago
.I've
always
been
interested
in
being
behind
the
camera.
I
took
keen
interest
in
the
scripting
and
other
technicalities
of
my
acting
debut
Betaab.
Today
I
think
I'm
fully
prepared
to
direct."