Suniel Shetty is lovingly called ‘Anna’ (elder brother) in Bollywood.
In the 1990s, Mumbai was terrified of the underworld. Even rich businessmen and famous movie stars were scared of getting threatening phone calls from gangsters.
During this time, a Bollywood actor was also getting these scary calls. This went on for about one and a half years. The actor ignored the calls and tried to stay quiet.
But one day, the gangster went too far.
He threatened to shoot the actor’s father.
This was the breaking point. The actor had ignored the threats to his own life, but he could not tolerate a threat to his father. He lost his patience. He shouted back at the gangster, used strong words, and spoke to him in his own tough language.
He responded to the gangster in his own language, abused him and said – I have more money than you and more connections too. So never think that I will get scared.
This actor was Bollywood’s ‘Anna’, meaning Suniel Shetty, and the gangster was Hemant Pujari.
Today, on Suniel Shetty’s 65th birthday, let’s learn about some such unheard stories of his life
Gave training to police at the age of 15
Suniel Shetty told in an interview to Lallantop that when he was 13-14 years old, he was so influenced by Bruce Lee’s films that he decided to learn martial arts.
Suniel had mentioned that during that period he also played cricket, but to make himself stronger and more agile, he started training in martial arts.
The result of continuous hard work and dedication was that at just 15 years of age, his sensei (teacher) entrusted him with the responsibility of training other students. After this, soldiers of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) also started coming to him for training. Not only this, he also used to train Maharashtra Police personnel in fitness and running.
Suniel had mentioned that he used to run 20 to 30 kilometers with the soldiers and conduct rigorous exercises in sand and water.
Suniel Shetty still regularly does strength and resistance training at the gym.
Pasted posters of his first film on the streets himself
Suniel Shetty’s first film ‘Arju’ was shelved after being approximately 90-95 percent complete. After that, his second film also started and stopped. After two consecutive projects getting stalled, he finally got the opportunity to debut in Bollywood with ‘Balwaan’.
During the film ‘Balwaan’, there wasn’t a big promotion budget. Therefore, he himself used to paste the film’s posters on Mumbai’s streets along with his restaurant employees.
In an interview given to Lallantop, Suniel had revealed that Balwaan was successful at the box office. The audience liked the film, but some film critics heavily criticized his acting. A famous critic even called him a ‘wooden doorknob’ in his review. Not only that, he also wrote that instead of working in films, Suniel Shetty should go back to his restaurant and sell idli-vada.
Suniel Shetty appeared with actress Divya Bharti in his first film ‘Balwaan’ (1992).
Suniel Dutt had expressed displeasure regarding election campaigning
Last year on The Great Indian Kapil Show, Suniel Shetty revealed that once Sanjay Dutt agreed to campaign for elections at a friend’s request.
However, the funny thing was that the leader he was going to campaign for was from the opposition party and was contesting against his father Suniel Dutt.
To this, Sanjay Dutt had clarified with a smile, ‘I forgot.’
Suniel Shetty further revealed that later he was sent to campaign in place of Sanjay. When Suniel Dutt came to know about this, he called Suniel Shetty home and said, ‘Son, I understand your friendship, but you should have thought about me too.’
To this, Suniel Shetty had said that at that time only one thought came to his mind – ‘Your son didn’t think, what should I think!’
Sanjay Dutt and Suniel Shetty have worked together in many films like ‘Kaante’, ‘Anarth’ and ‘L.O.C. Kargil’.
Worked in the film ‘Border’ at mother-in-law’s insistence
‘Border’ is counted among Suniel Shetty’s most famous films. However, Suniel had initially flatly refused to work in this film.
In an interview given to Lallantop, Suniel Shetty revealed that at that time JP Dutta had a different image in the film industry. People used to say that he was very rude during shooting and did not hesitate to scold or get angry with the artists.
After hearing all this, Suniel had made up his mind that he would not work with such a director. He felt that if someone insulted him or abused him on set, it would become difficult for him to work. Therefore, he refused to do the film.
Meanwhile, his mother-in-law explained to him that before trusting anyone’s words, he should listen to the film’s story himself. On his mother-in-law’s advice, Suniel met JP Dutta. He listened to the film’s story and finally said yes to the film Border.
Ajay Devgn often teases him and Akshay Kumar about this habit. Suniel had told in an interview to Lallantop, “Ajay Devgn often says there are only two milkmen in the film industryone is Akshay Kumar and the other is Suniel Shetty. Early in the morning it seems as if these two are the ones who go out to supply milk.”
Suniel Shetty and Ajay Devgn have worked together in many films like ‘Dilwale’, ‘L.O.C. Kargil’ and ‘Qayamat: City Under Threat’.
Challenged the gangster himself on underworld threat
In the 90s, Suniel Shetty received threats from the underworld. Suniel Shetty had revealed that at that time, because his surname was ‘Shetty’, the underworld thought that by intimidating him, they could also extort weekly payments from other Shetty businessmen. Gangster Hemant Pujari and his men continuously called his home, office, and manager to issue threats. This continued for about one and a half years.
One day, Hemant Pujari called and threatened that he would shoot Suniel Shetty’s father who went for morning walks. Hearing this, Suniel Shetty lost his temper. He responded to the gangster in his own language.
Suniel told him, “I have more information about you than you have about yourself. Where your sisters live, where your brothers are, where your relatives are… I know everything. I have more money than you and more connections too. So never think that I will be scared. What will you achieve by shooting a 70-80 year old elderly person?”
Suniel Shetty had revealed that he had security, so the entire conversation was recorded. When the Mumbai Police heard the recording, they explained to Suniel that arguing with such gangsters could be dangerous. The police said that these people are sometimes under the influence of drugs or anger and can attack anyone on just one order.
However, Suniel Shetty said that he had been silent for one and a half years, but when the matter reached his father, he could not remain quiet.
Had a junior artist dressed up like the Chief Minister
During the TV show ‘Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai’, actress Mahima Chaudhry had revealed that Suniel Shetty plays a lot of pranks on set.
When Mahima Chaudhry arrived in Hyderabad for the first time for an outdoor shoot of the film ‘Yeh Tera Ghar Yeh Mera Ghar’, Suniel Shetty had played a funny prank on her.
Mahima had mentioned that Suniel had gotten a junior artist prepared to look exactly like the Chief Minister. Special clothes were ordered for him. There was a convoy of several white Ambassador cars. Police vehicles, commandos, walkie-talkies, and complete VIP arrangements were there.
Mahima had no idea about anything. Then Suniel told her that she had to meet the Chief Minister for an important meeting. He also asked Mahima what points regarding the industry should be discussed in the meeting. Mahima started preparing for the meeting with complete seriousness and arrived ready to meet the Chief Minister.
After this, some junior artists started raising slogans of “Jai Chandrababu Naidu”. Following which everyone started shouting. Then Suniel touched the feet of the supposed Chief Minister, after which Mahima also bowed down and greeted. Later, this turned out to be a prank.
The film ‘Yeh Tera Ghar Yeh Mera Ghar’ was released in cinemas on October 12, 2001.
Mahima Chaudhary said – Suniel Shetty had put a snake in the car
Meanwhile, Mahima had said in the same show that on the very first day of shooting, Suniel had put a snake in her car.
However, in the show, Sunil’s statement was that he had not put a snake in the car. The snake had somehow entered inside the car’s bonnet. Suniel had explained that he himself is afraid of snakes and if he had seen the snake, he would have run far away from there.
Later, on Kapil Sharma’s show, Suniel had revealed that Mahima still believes to this day that he was the one who put the snake in the car. A body part was taken from Suniel Shetty’s photo
The year 1998. In Uttar Pradesh, the notorious gangster Shri Prakash Shukla had become a major challenge for the police. The police and the newly formed UP STF were engaged in searching for him, but the biggest problem was – they couldn’t even find his correct photograph.
IPS Rajesh Pandey had revealed that Shri Prakash had also gotten wind of the fact that the police were searching for his photo. He started keeping an eye on the photographers in his area. Whichever photographer he suspected of having given his picture to the police, he would threaten them. One photographer was even dragged out of his shop and shot dead on the street.
After this, such fear spread in the area that people became afraid of even keeping Shri Prakash’s photo with them. On the other hand, there was also pressure on the STF. People would raise questions that when the police didn’t even have his photograph, how would they catch him?
Meanwhile, the STF learned from informers that Shriprakash occasionally visits his sister and brother-in-law’s house in Lucknow. The team reached there, but the family refused to provide any information about him. Then they had a conversation with his young nieces who were present in the house.
The girls told them that their uncle had come to their birthday party and they had photographs from that day. They took out some pictures kept in a book and showed them to the police. Finally, the STF got the real photograph of Shriprakash Shukla.
This very picture of Shriprakash Shukla was edited to create it. (The quality of the picture has been enhanced with the help of AI)
But now there was another problem. If his real picture came out from that family’s house, Shriprakash could find out where the photo came from and he could harm the family.
STF officers thought of finding a way so that the source of the picture would never come to light.
In the Hazratganj area of Lucknow, postcards and pictures of film stars were available at that time. There, IPS Rajesh Pandey’s eyes fell on a picture in which actor Suniel Shetty was standing almost in the same way as Shriprakash Shukla was standing in a group photo.
Then a very unique jugaad (workaround) was done. The body part was taken from Suniel Shetty’s picture and Shriprakash Shukla’s face was fitted on it. The picture was prepared in such a way that at first glance, it would appear to the viewer as Shriprakash Shukla’s own photo.
In this way, Shriprakash Shukla’s picture was made public.
The interesting thing was that later when someone called Shriprakash and told him that his photo was printed in the newspaper, after seeing the picture he said that he had never worn such a denim shirt in his life and he was astonished.
