OTTplay Awards 2022: Know Your Winners: Deepak Dobriyal wins Best Actor In A Comic Role (Film)

Deepak Dobriyal has won the award for Best Actor In A Comic Role in a film at the recently held OTTplay Awards 2022. The actor received the trophy for his role in the Disney+Hotstar release, Good Luck Jerry. The film starred Janhvi Kapoor in the lead role.

Here's all you need to know about Deepak Dobriyal and Good Luck Jerry…

About the winner

A remake of the Tamil film Kolamaavu Kokila, Good Luck Jerry was the story about a young Bihari girl Jaya aka Jerry caught in a drug racket while trying to save her mother. While Janhvi played Jerry, the film starred Deepak Dobriyal in the role of her one-sided lover Rinku.

The original film featured Nayanthara in the lead role with Yogi Babu in a pivotal character. The movie was acclaimed for the use of black comedy, screenplay and direction. Yogi Babu, especially, won various awards for the film.

The movie itself was reportedly inspired by Vijay Sethupathi-Nayanthara’s own film, Naanum Rowdy Dhaan. Kolamaavu Kokila happened to creative director Nelson Dilipkumar (who also has many awards for the film), by luck. In 2011, he started shooting for a film titled Vettai Mannan starring Silambarasan, Jai, Deeksha Seth and Hansika Motwani. However, despite being half-complete, the film ran into production trouble and thus, it had to be shelved. Soon, Lyca Productions came on board and offered to finance a movie if Nayanthara played the lead. That is how the original Tamil film Kolamaavu Kokila came into being. Even then, the working title was CoCo. Shot in 2017, Kolamaavu Kokila finally released in 2018 and became a huge hit in Kollywood.

Accolades

Good Luck Jerry received rave reviews from the critics. The film had strong performances and humour intact. Deepak Dobriyal’s role was undoubtedly the funniest, thanks to the hilarious dialogues and his fab performance, thus making him the most deserving winner.

Know Deepak Dobriyal a little better

Deepak Dobriyal is a theatre actor who has been working since 1994. He started his Bollywood career with Maqbool and was first recognized for his performance in Omkara.

The actor played the role of Pappi in Tanu Weds Manu, a film which became a superhit when it released in 2011. He reprised his role for the 2015 sequel Tanu Weds Manu: Returns and came into limelight once again.

Deepak then appeared in Salman Khan-Sonam Kapoor’s Prem Ratan Dhan Payo and Irrfan Khan’s Hindi Medium, after which he landed one of the lead roles in Ranjit Tiwari’s Lucknow Central.

Apart from Good Luck Jerry, he is most remembered for his role in Angrezi Medium, a sequel to Hindi Medium. Deepak was also a part of Saif Ali Khan’s Kaalakaandi and Laal Kaptaan and Tiger Shroff-Shraddha Kapoor’s Baaghi 2.

A heartfelt gratitude, straight from the winner's heart

Deepak Dobriyal, often known for his comic roles, was getting tired of the stereotype and thus, he was rejecting those offers. However, he did say yes to Good Luck Jerry and after winning the OTTplay Award, the actor couldn’t be happier.

While accepting the award on stage, the actor said, "Thank you. Three to four years ago, I had turned down a number of comic roles because I had grown tired of them. I was about to undertake a serious role and was delving deep into it when the pandemic unexpectedly struck, sending everyone into a panic mode, including me. My wife and all the other women who were unable to go shopping or to the movies were in a panic mode and were managing their homes in a very responsible manner. So I gave up on the concept of playing a serious persona and instead thought, "Let's first laugh together, then let's make others laugh."

He added, "Eventually, Good Luck Jerry came to my kitty. I cheerfully accepted the project and abandoned my earlier decision to avoid comedy films. Humour is the only thing in the world that can fight panic, therefore I've attempted to do this and will continue to do so. Thank you, HT OTTplay, thank you Disney + Hotstar, thank you Siddhant Sen for providing me such a fantastic part. In addition to congratulating the whole team, I'd want to dedicate this award to Janhvi Kapoor since, in all honesty, she is the reason why viewers watch the film. I've appeared in a few previous movies, but nobody watched them. Thanks to Janhvi's fan base, the movie was a success, and I was given this award so thank you Janhvi." Abhilash Thapliyal, Anup Soni and Akanksha Singh presented the award to the actor.

Upcoming films/web series/project

Deepak Dobriyal is now a part of Varun Dhawan-Kriti Sanon’s upcoming film, Bhediya. Directed by Amar Kaushik, the movie is a horror-comedy. Going by the first looks, Varun might turn into a bhediya (warewolf) in the film.

The movie is among Dinesh Vijan’s horror-comedy universe. Starting with Rajkummar Rao-Shraddha Kapoor’s Stree, Rajkummar-Janhvi Kapoor-Varun Sharma’s Roohi was the second film in the installment. Dinesh also has Stree prequel Munjha in the works.

Apart from Bhediya, Deepak has Sector 36 in his kitty. Also starring Vikram Massey in the lead role, this film narrates the horrors of mass murders in Nithari Village of Sector 36, Noida. Directed by Aditya Nimbalkar, this movie is also produced by Dinesh Vijan’s Maddock Films. It went on floors in June and is likely to release by 2023.