Deepak Tijori

Some Lesser Known Facts About Deepak Tijori

• Does Deepak Tijori smoke?: No ^[5]Times of India

• Does Deepak Tijori drink alcohol?: No ^[6]Times of India

• Before making his acting debut, Deepak did some odd jobs like a space seller in Cineblitz Magazine and front office manager at Hotel Searock in Mumbai. At that time, Deepak Tijori, and his friends, Aamir Khan, Paresh Rawal, Ashutosh Gowariker, and Vipul Shah (director) studied in the same college, were a part of the same theatre group and lived in the same locality.

• Milind Soman was the first choice for the role of ‘Shekhar Malhotra’ in the film ‘Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar’ (1992), but he quit after few days of shooting, and the role went to Deepak Tijori. Moreover, Akshay Kumar had also auditioned for this role but he was rejected.
  

• For around 3 years, he struggled a lot to get acting opportunities and only managed to do small roles. During this struggling period, he had nearly given up on films. Fortunately, Mahesh Bhatt called him and offered him to work in “Aashiqui” (1990). The film was a huge box office success, and youth of that time used to re-enact his hand gestures in the film.
  

• Deepak mostly played negative or supporting roles in films; a few of the popular films include Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar (992), Pehla Nasha (1993), Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa (1994), Anjaam (1994), Ghulam (1998), Baadshah (1999), Vaastav: The Reality (1999), Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge (2000), Raja Natwarlal (2014), and Gollu Aur Pappu (2014).

• He has also worked in Gujarati Cinema and has acted in two Gujarati films, “Hu Tu Ne Ramtudi” (1999) and “Madi Jaya” (2005).

• He owns a production company called ‘Tijori Films.’ He has produced many television serials and films such as X-Zone, Rishtey, 1984 — Black October, Saturday Suspense, Khauff, Dial 100, and Thriller at 10 – Fareb.

• In 2001, Tijori was awarded the Indian Television Academy Award for best mini-series for “Thriller at 10 – Fareb.”

• Deepak made his directorial debut with the film “Oops!” (2003) and went on to direct films such as Fareb (2005), Khamoshh… Khauff Ki Raat (2005), Tom, Dick, and Harry (2006), Fox (2009), and Rock’In Love (2013). After a gap of 7 years, he made his directorial comeback with the film “Do Lafzon Ki Kahani” (2016).
  

• In 2006, he made a wild card entry in the television reality show “Bigg Boss” as a replacement of Salil Ankola. A month later, he was evicted from the show. After his eviction, he gave controversial statements about the show and termed it as a ‘laundered reality.’

• In 2009, Deepak’s daughter, Samara was returning to her home from Andheri, after shopping with one of her friends, when an auto driver stopped by her and kidnapped her. Samara’s friend informed about the incident to Samara’s family, following which, Deepak registered a kidnapping case in a police station. After a couple of hours, Samara returned to her home in Lokhandwala. The kidnapper was arrested later.

• Deepak was also one of the judges of the pageants Miss India Worldwide in 2006 and 2009.

• In 2018, Deepak replaced Shah Rukh Khan as Bob Parr/Mr Incredible’s role in Hindi version of the animated film “Incredibles 2.”

• He is an avid animal lover and has two pet dogs, ‘Frazer’ and ‘Muffin.’