Sunil Shetty was born on August 11th 1961 in Mangalore a wonderful city in the Indian state of Karnataka. Once he had completed his education, Sunil went and started working in the company of his dad who ran a family restaurant business. But Sunil’s heart always belonged to Bollywood. He really wanted to act in Bollywood films. His jaw structure didn’t make him an ideal candidate for Bollywood but he never let that come in his way.
Sunil Shetty made his Bollywood debut in 1992 with the movie Balwaan that gave its producers a positive return at the box office on their investment but thereafter he would to struggle for a long long time to find success. This can be made out from the fact that out of his 1st twenty-eight releases as many as twenty-one weren’t even running after initial first week of release or beyond. Such failures are enough to dampen the spirits of even the strongest of people in Bollywood. But to his credit he stuck his foot in the door and didn’t let it shut it’s face on him.
But then came the period where Sunil established himself as a bankable actor and a good action hero in Bollywood. In 1993 he acted in the film 'Waqt Hamara Hai' co-starring with actress Ayesha Julka. His first major success was an action thriller – Mohra made by Rajiv Rai. The movie stared Akshay Kumar, he and Akshay would later go on and star many super hits like Hera Pehri(with Paresh Rawal, actress Tabu and akshay kumar), Phir Hera Pehri and Awara Pagal Deewana. In 1994 after Mohra’s success came Dilwale with Ajay Devgan and it made sufficient money at the box office to be called a hit. His action scenes were beginning to be appreciated by the audience and his muscular looks made gym owners buy his action posters and paste it on the walls of their gymnasiums. Suddenly with a host of other action heroes Sunil too was hot property.
Sunil has played quite a few roles in Patriotic Bollywood movies as well, in 1997, Border a movie made by J.P. Dutta was released and Sunil played the role of a tough army man that won him rave reviews. He co-starred with top indian actors and actresses in the movie including Akshay Khanna, Pooja Bhatt, Sunny Deol, Jackie Shroff, Raakhee and more. This movie probably gave him the idea that he could be more successful if he chooses to act in Bollywood movies that are multi starred. His signed on to play in another Bollywood patriotic movie LOC: Kargil. Directed by J.P. Dutta who by then was gaining a reputation for making war time movies. In LOC: Kargil he co-starred with many indian actors like Sanjay Dutt, Ajay Devgan, Saif Ali Khan, Sanjay Kapoor, Abhishek Bachchan, Akshaye Khanna, Manoj Bajpai, Mohnish Bahl and there were many actresses also in this movie like Rani Mukerji, Raveena Tandon, Kareena Kapoor, Mahima Chaudhry, Esha Deol, Isha Koppikar and more. This was another success in the growing list of success for Sunil Shetty. Qayamat: City Under Threat, was another of the same type of movie and its fate too was similar. Sunil obviously wouldn’t be objecting as he had eariler had to strave for success and these consecutive success would surely have made him a happy man. Also played major role in the movie 'Dhadkan' along with Akshay Kumar and Shilpa Shetty . The movie 'Shootout at Lokandwala' was yet another contribution from Sunil Shetty to the film industry where he first time worked with top indian actors and actresses like Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Vivek Oberoi, Arbaaz Khan, Tusshar Kapoor, Amrita Singh, Dia Mirza, Neha Dhupia and Rakhi Sawant.
Sunil then gradually diversified into producing Bollywood movies and then into other businesses as well, which shows that he isn’t a dum headed bloke who likes to sit on his laurels, rather he wants to make the best of what he has and wants to provide for a better living for his family. Not that he has less money or he needs more money but just that he has a mind of his own and wants it to be as active as that of a 18 year old. Producing Bollywood movies though hasn’t proved to be successful at all but then he had to wait for success and when he found it there was no stopping him. Similarly I think once he finds the right formula of making typical Bollywood movies he will prove to be as successful as anyone else. The name of his production company is name as Popcorn Motion Pictures Limited.
He has also ventured into creating his own brand of food chain, it means though he didn’t want to work with his dad in his dad’s restaurant there was a foodie inside him all the time. He also own a water sports complex. We wish Sunil all the success in whatever endeavors he chooses to pursue.
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