'Love is more important than awards'

At a press gathering for Suniel Shetty's next production Khel, all eyes are on the media shy Sunny Deol who made an unexpected appearance.

Slated for an August release, the film also stars Deol, cricketer Ajay Jadeja and former Miss India-Universe Celina Jaitley. Shetty plays a successful businessman and Jadeja, his friend. Directed by Yusuf Khan and co-produced by Galaxy Entertainment, the film is promoted by the Chatterjee Group and the Ruias.

"Main Hero hoon film mein (I am the hero of the film)," Deol said. "I play a police officer [who comes] from a big family. He wants to stop crime in society. He is not interested in money or bribes. He cannot tolerate an innocent man behind prison walls."

He says he signed the film because he "liked the script and loved the character in the film."

About Anil Sharma's The Hero: The Love Story Of A Spy, which releases this Friday, Deol says, "All of us [director Sharma and heroine Preity Zinta] have done a good job [in The Hero]. Let us see what happens."

His last blockbuster Gadar -- Ek Prem Katha, also directed by Sharma, released on the same day as the Oscar-nominated film, Ashutosh Gowariker's Lagaan. Deol claims he was not disappointed by the fact that the Aamir Khan starrer was selected over his film for the Oscars. "Everyone loved my film. Crores and crores of people loved it. Love is more important to me than awards," he says.

"I am doing all kinds of films but action suits me best," he said. "People love seeing me in these roles," adding quickly, "Gadar was a love story. So is The Hero. It is the love story of a spy."

Director Sharma is planning a film with the entire Deol family -- father Dharmendra, brother Bobby and himself, Sunny said.

Celina Jaitley, who plays the female lead in Feroze Khan's Janasheen, believes her role in Khel, "will launch me as a proper actor." 

"I am the central character in the film," she says, "and the only female lead. Khel starts and ends with me."