The father-son may be mostly associated with their "He Man" personas in films down the decades, but Dharmendra and Sunny Deol have always been unapologetic about showing their emotional, gentler side off-screen. Crying in public doesn't denote being strong or weak, said Sunny, who is all set to launch his son Karan Deol in the romance drama "Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas" presented by Dharmendra.

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Crying in public doesn't mean weak: Sunny Deol

"We are so connected with our family. I'm getting emotional while talking about it. I can't help it. We are like that. A man is a man. You don't have to live up to an image to be a man. You are a man anyway, so what do you have to live up to?

"That's the way I have always been, my family has been. We aren't bothered. Who cares? They say men don't cry. Crying doesn't mean being strong or weak. It's a release of emotion. Why stop it?" the actor told PTI in an interview here.

His new film, also starring debutante Sahher Bambaa, releases this Friday. Romance seems to be the go-to genre to launch new talent agrees the actor-director. Sunny believes a fresh and innocent romance can be only captured in the youth.

"I don't think there's any beauty to it later. As you get older, an actor won't be able to give you what he/she could give you in the first film. The subject is also based on what their age is right now," he said.

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"Playing a teenager after the age of 35-40 is something so stupid. So this can only be done now... It becomes easy to get those things out from them (youngsters), rather than putting them in a complex situation right from the beginning. Everybody loves love stories. I love love stories. 'Love is my drug' is my caption on social media," he added.

Discussing his new film, Sunny said it revolves around just the relationship between the two characters and does not have the traditional tropes of parents, society or class playing spoilsport.

"The film has nothing to do with issues of religion or caste or any of those kinds of things. The film is about the way the youngsters are today. We spend a lot of time to understand what love is. "How do we place it, what are these two doing in their world and how to bring them together. Romance develops over a lot of things. We wanted to bring a journey forward and take it to the end. Would they be together or not? So, that's interesting," he said. A self-proclaimed "romantic person", Sunny is aware his filmography isn't really rosy with love stories.

However, the 62-year-old cites "Gadar: Ek Prem Katha" as the biggest example of a "true love story". All his films have had a romantic angle, he said.

"But because of the villain and wanting to fight for his family so strongly, it's the aggression that people remember the most, rather than the innocence and the romance of it," he added. Sunny, whose last release as an actor was "Blank", said he will always choose acting over direction.

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"People feel as I'm from the fraternity, things pan out very easily. It's not like that. I want to do the most and there's a lot to be done. Time is of the essence. It doesn't matter how much you rush after it. Hopefully, some things will follow. I definitely want to do (films) because I like to be thrown into challenges, where I shock myself."

Politics a service: Deol

With his victory from Gurdaspur in the Lok Sabha polls, he is following in his father's footsteps as an MP. But Sunny considers politics a service, not legacy. "I don't take it as a legacy. This is a service. I definitely didn't want to get into it. But the way I am, once I get into something, I'll take it to wherever it needs to go. Right or wrong, only God knows but it's a journey ahead," he said.

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