Rishabh Suri (HINDUSTAN TIMES; September 10, 2020)

Actor Suniel Shetty is as honest as they come. In a three decade long career, he has seen every aspect of film industry and he considers this his home. However, the 59-year-old, who came from a “humble background”, is not happy with how Bollywood is being looked at today. “For me, nepotism doesn’t exist; that’s the way of the world. I tried for the best school for my kids. At the age of two, I didn’t know how good or bad they would be in studies, but I tried, maybe not giving tomorrow’s genius an opportunity. We all try,” says the actor, whose initiative to help newcomers was praised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Upset by how “bitter” things are, he rues, “Strong words like ‘film industry gutter hai’ — it hurts a lot. It’s my place of work, worship. It’s not five actors or directors or producers who make the industry. It’s 18 associations, one federation and lakhs of workers. Aap gande log nahi bol sakte, it’s not fair.”

He also questions why the Hindi film industry is the only one in limelight when there are many other film industries in India. The actor urges people to not generalise Bollywood based on the actions of a few. “X percentage of people who do drugs exist in every part of an industry. If five politicians are doing it, it doesn’t mean the entire circle is bad. The percentage is definitely not as high as it’s made out to be,” Shetty says.