“Tell me what I haven’t been called – ham...wooden...doorknob...non actor....The only thing I knew when I entered the industry was how to jump off from the eleventh floor.”

“My wife and children mean the world to me. I love them to death and there’s nothing I would do to hurt them in any way.”

“Anyone would come to me with a sob story and I would buy it. I must have worked with at least 30 new directors.... Now, I’m wiser.”

His only ambition was to play cricket for India when he grew up. He now dons many caps with consummate ease. Actor, producer, entrepreneur, family man, Suniel Shetty is on a winning wicket with his fast-growing chains of restaurants and boutiques. Jayashree Menon has a ‘hair-raising’ encounter with the mature star, affectionately called Anna in film circles

Hakim’s Aalim Hair Lounge in suburban Mumbai, is a convenient though unusual, place for the interview, interspersed between a photo shoot. For, Suniel Shetty is a busy man. In the morning, he’s going to be at Taj Lands End, Bandra, meeting up with ace cricketer, Sachin Tendulkar, then he’s tied up through the weekend, organising and participating in the Mumbai-Pune Moto Xtreme rally. So, it’s a take it or leave it situation. I take it. Used to stars who treat the concept of time lightly, I turn up a tad late, only to be greeted at the door by the art director who tells me that Shetty has been there for the last 15 minutes...and I can cool my heels because he’s getting dressed.

He emerges finally, all bronzed and rippling muscles in ganji and jeans and, as he sits down to get his hair attended to by the pretty stylist, I perch next to him on a swivel chair where my feet don’t touch the floor. Precariously balancing paper, pen and myself, I desperately try to maintain eye contact with the actor while talking to him...not at all easy, what with his long mane swinging and the hairdryer coming perilously close to singeing my brows.

Shetty, born and brought up in the rarefied atmosphere of Malabar Hill, did not really aspire to be an actor. His restaurateur father,Verappa Shetty, although partial to having a doctor in the family, did not really mind what his only son did for a living, as long as the said son made money.

“A lot of industry people would come here to shop and it was people like director, Rajiv Rai and photographer, J P Singhal who encouraged me to join films. I have always believed that when opportunity knocks, I must take it. And here it kept on knocking.”

Although the first film he signed was Sajid Nadiadwala’s Waqt Hamara Hain, his first release was Balwaan. “Non-filmi background, non-conventional looks and yet I had signed 45 films even before my first release,” he gr ins. Although his beefcake physique and daredevil stunts garnered him a loyal fanfollowing, none of the initial films set the box office exactly on fire and the brickbats were quick to follow.

“They said I could not talk…could not act...could not dance. Tell me what I haven’t been called – ham...wooden...doorknob...non actor....”

Did that hurt? “No, why should it?” he shoots back. “It was all true, wasn’t it? The only thing I knew when I entered the industry was how to jump off from the eleventh floor.”

The only other thing he knew was how to make and keep friends. And that’s why today even the fickle cinema industry, refers affectionately to him as Anna – big brother. “Oh, that was started by Sanju (actor, Sanjay Dutt), just to prove to everybody that I was older than him!

Styling by Navin Shetty. Jewellery Me by Adora.
Hair styling by Raychel @ Hakim’s Aalim. Location courtesy: Hakim’s Aalim Hair Lounge, Bandra.