Suniel Veerappa Shetty celebrates his 55th birthday today as we recall his bumpy yet magnificent career. Shetty was born in Karnataka and did most of his schooling there, in 1992 he entered mainstream Hindi cinema with Balwan. Balwan was a humble hit but launched his career as an action star. Shetty spent 90’s doing action films with the likes of Akshay Kumar and Sanjay Dutt. Mohra and Gopi Kishan are some of his hits but it was not until 2000 till his first classic released. Hera Pheri was the classic that gave Shetty’s and Akshay Kumar’s career a new direction. Shetty till today is highly respected for his performance in 2000 release Dhadkan.
Shetty bagged a lot of awards for his performance in a negative role and his role still is a rage to certain section of the society. He spent 2000’s doing action comedies and his frequent collaboration with Priyadarshan. He did comedy classic Ye Teraa Ghar Ye Meraa Ghar in 2001 with Mahima Chaudhary and several other comedies such as Awaara Paagal Deewana, Hulchul, Phir Hera Pheri, Deewane Hue Pagal and so on. Shetty is one of the few actors who have survived in Hindi film industry for this long but barely. In mid 2000’s Shetty started his production venture and produced Khel: No ordinary game, Bhagam Bhag and a few other films but closed it down because of losses. Shetty clearly had a hard time adjusting his film making with the newer world but clearly managed to stay fit or fitter than ever.
In 2010 Shetty did a wonderful indie Red Alert: The War Within. This film is about a poor man who gets dragged into Maoists in south of India, arguably this could be named as Shetty’s best drama performance. He left a strong mark in films like Aan: Men at work, Main Hoon Naa and Thankyou. Aadhya Shetty, his daughter is now working in films but Shetty has not grown a day older than he joined the industry. As of today, Shetty awaits his new release A Gentleman with Siddharth Malhotra where he plays an antagonist. Suniel Shetty is a life in films and his contribution to cinema has been important.
