Suniel Shetty talked about how he became different from his contemporaries by attempting riskier action sequences on screen.
Suniel Shetty made his Bollywood debut with Deepak Anand’s 1992 film Balwaan opposite Divya Bharti. Despite harsh reviews from the critics back then, the film emerged as a hit and Suniel went on to establish himself as a successful action hero with his subsequent films.
Recently in Nikhil Kamath’s podcast interview titled ‘WTF Is Health?’, the Hera Pheri star shared that he had to work hard to become different from his contemporaries in the film industry and so he focused on performing ‘death-defying’ action stunts to entertain the cine-goers.
Suniel shared, “I started off as an actor, not believing that I will get an opportunity. I was this South Indian boy there, who doesn’t speak the language. Of course I spoke Hindi in school but I managed to get through with probably 40-45 out of 100. When it came to Hindi, my diction was never good because we spoke Tulu at home. We never spoke in Hindi.”
The actor further continued, “I got into the business of cinema, thanks to my martial arts background. I believed that I was going to be successful like probably a Mr. Bachchan but then when the results come out, you see success at the box office but there is a critique writing you off completely and saying that you wouldn’t succeed. The reality hits you so hard. You don’t know what to do. So you take a step back and decide the only way I can stay here is if I create an image for myself. What is my strength? Action. Work on it but there are a lot of others who are doing action too. Then, do death-defying stunts, take that risk, let that family not know but go every morning to do action believing that either you are going to come back with a broken bone or you are not going to come back at all.”
Suniel further shared that he feels people often forget that being an action job.
The actor explained, “Being an action hero is a very tough job. People believe it’s a very glamourous world. Glamour is only there because you are on the screen and there’s extra love for you. Other than that, it’s hard work. It’s constant pressure.”
On the work front, Suniel Shetty was last seen in the Amazon Prime mini series Hunter: Tootega Nahin Todega. His next is the much-awaited Hera Pheri 3.
