In 2000, Bobby appeared in the action drama "Badal" alongside Rani Mukerji, under the director's helm of Raj Kanwar. The film is set in 1984 when riots were engulfing parts of Punjab and Delhi. Bobby plays the character of Badal, a boy who witnesses the massacre of his family and villagers by the corrupt Police Inspector Jai Singh Rana (Ashutosh Rana) and grows up to be a dreaded terrorist, fuelled by the anger and hatred of the authorities who wrongly deprived him of his family and friends. The film is inspired by "The Devil's Own" (1997), starring Brad Pitt and Harrison Ford. Following this he starred alongside Karisma Kapoor in "Hum To Mohabbat Karega" (2000), and reunited with Rani Mukerji to star in "Bichhoo" (2000), a blatant remake of Luc Besson's 1994 film "Leon", starring Jean Reno and Natalie Portman. In "Bichhoo", Deol plays Reno's role, Jeeva, a young man from a struggling middle-class family who has the misfortune of falling in love with the wealthy Kiran (Malaika Arora). Her cruel, disapproving father in rage at their relationship, has Jeeva's mother and two sisters publicly arrested for prostitution, and eventually all three kill themselves. Jeeva becomes a professional killer and later exacts vengeance against Kiran's father and his henchmen. He and his neighbour Kiran Bali (Mukerji) soon witness the entire Bali family get murdered. Jeeva now decides to help Kiran seek revenge on the men who killed her family. The film and Bobby’s performance was panned by the critics, with "Sakanya Verna" of Rediff.com citing the film as "one of the most painful of the year" and commenting, "Bobby Deol's performance is quite, well, robotic. He religiously hangs on to a brooding expression right through the film. Why o why doesn't someone insist he goes to an acting school?"