A couple of years back, Abhay Deol decided to give Bollywood the boot, and move far away from the madding crowd to New York - a home away from home. This thinking woman's man spent almost a year there, only returning to films as a more mature actor, his belief now strong that taking time out from the rigmaroles of life can actually add newer dimensions to one's personality."Taking time off," says the actor, "is very important, especially in the field of acting. There was a time when I was doing one film after another. You tend to get jaded like that and often have to dig into your stock emotions. There is no newness to it." He explains further, "You should let life happen...set yourself free, that's the only way you can grow."

Regarded among his fans as one of the very few Bollywood actors who can portray the brooding young man on screen, Abhay has a few philosophies he likes to keep close to his everyday being. The young actor almost throws us off our seats when he says he is too shy to propose to the other Deols that they ought to do a movie together. He says, "I don't know if I can play a different character in front of those who are my close family. I am shy, will I get the right script?" After a long pause, he wonders aloud, "Perhaps with Bobby...He is closer to my age...but with Bhaiya and Pappa (Dharmendra), I don't know..." Our conversation veers towards Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, director Zoya Akhtar's latest offering about three young men who hit the dirt road in Spain, a journey that changes their lives forever. Ask him if he is just about warming up to mainstream cinema and he quips, "I was always open to mainstream cinema. Every maker wants his film to be mainstream. You sort of live uncomfortably with the tag of being offbeat." He states further, "That could turn off distributors and even producers from marketing the movie..."

Abhay who has played diverse roles in films like Dev D, Road, Movie, Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! and Aisha admits that his role in Zindagi... is perhaps his most favourite one till date. In fact, he adds, he really relates to Kabir, the guy he plays in the film. "The roles I do are the ones I should really be able to connect with. Like my character in Oye Lucky!... I am ambitious, the stubbornness of Dev in Dev D... In Zindagi..., Kabir is a real guy...someone you seen in South Bombay. In fact, you can relate to all the relations in this film. I even told Zoya that she gave me the exact role that I wanted to do," confesses the young actor.Abhay is almost done filming for his next film Shanghai, directed by Dibakar Banerjee and is looking forward to the next with Navdeep Singh. "I want to do more films like these...want to raise the bar," he says. And post all this, he will probably take off again, head to the yonder shores and dive into the deep blue seas, which he says has been his most cherished dream.