As far as debuts go, it was a dream one — starring opposite Sridevi, being launched by Yash Chopra, even if the length of the role itself was minuscule. However, India’s reigning supermodel at that time, Deepak Malhotra, was undone by that very short role and a dialogue. After his rise as a top model in the 1980s, Deepak got an opportunity to be launched by Yash Raj Films in Lamhe (1991) opposite Sridevi. It was meant to be his golden chance, a breakthrough for his acting career, but everything went downhill after the release of the film. After a successful modelling career and become a heartthrob among women, he failed to get more offers only because of one badly delivered dialogue. This was long before social media trolling will become a thing but Deepak’s one dialogue ‘Pallo’, as he speaks to Sridevi in Lamhe, became his undoing. As work dried up, Deepak left for the US. He changed his name to Dino Martelli, and is now an entrepreneur, living in New York.
Deepak Malhotra was India’s reigning model
The model-actor was born in Bangalore in 1964. Deepak was a national-level gymnast before completing his studies at Christ University (1982-85). His athletic and lean physique was preferred by fashion photographers, hence helped him get many modelling offers. By late-80s, he earned a lot of fame as a super model, not just in Bangalore, but the whole country. He soon signed a contract with Vimal Suitings and became the highest-paid model in India, and reportedly chargeed a humongous Rs 1.5 lakh back in 1987.
Deepak Malhotra’s acting debut in Lamhe
Around the same time, he started receiving film offers and he chose his first film to be the romantic drama Lamhe, with Sridevi, directed by the iconic Yash Chopra. The movie also featured Anil Kapoor, Waheeda Rehman and Anupam Kher and was a story ahead of its time. Sridevi portrayed a double role as both mother and daughter – Pallavi and Pooja. Deepak played Pallavi’s love interest and husband, Siddharth. But, after the release, the film tanked badly at the box office.
In addition, Deepak’s performance was brutally criticised by critics. He was judged by one scene, which then became a pop culture reference. The sequence was about Pallavi fainting and Siddharth trying to wake her up, and the audience wasn’t happy with his monotone and stiff delivery. His act in the famous ‘Pallo’ moment became a huge joke in the early 90s and we have seen many memes around it. The actor had dropped out of a leading role in Rajiv Mehra’s Chamatkar (1992) for a small supporting role in Lamhe. Chamatkar finally went to Shah Rukh Khan who was just starting his ascent in Bollywood.
Deepak Malhotra was also being considered by Yash Chopra for his next film, Darr. However, after the negative response to his acting skills in Lamhe, the director replaced him with Sunny Deol. The actor also lost several other films, including Bekhudi to Kamal Sadanah, Suryavanshi to Salman Khan, and Junoon to Rahul Roy. In fact, he was even being considered a rival to the young actors like Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan. But by 1993, he had run out of offers.
Changed his name to Dino Martelli
Soon after, he quit films and moved to the US. After Lamhe, his only release was N Chandra’s Tejasvini, which was another box office disaster. To step away from the limelight completely, Deepak Malhotra changed his name to Dino Martelli. He continued to model there and also studied industrial engineering and designing, but eventually became a garment entrepreneur. He also made headlines for his relationship rumours with former supermodel-turned-fashion show choreographer, Lubna Adam.
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Where is Deepak now?
Deepak Malhotra is now living in New York since many years. In 2018, he founded his own apparel brand and is serving as its principal currently. He got married to Lubna and have two sons together – Kian and Kyle. Both brothers followed their father’s footsteps and modelled for Manish Malhotra a few years ago.
