Actor-producer Suniel Shetty has many memorable roles to his name on screen, but the role that has shaped him the most is the one he has played off screen — that of a parent. On Parents’ Day today, Suniel reflects on how becoming a father changed the way he looked at responsibility and the choices he made as an actor.

“When I became a father, I carried this image of an actor very responsibly. I made sure that I didn’t do films that I was gonna be embarrassed about tomorrow. Success and failure are not an embarrassment. It’s the roles that you do and that you regret is what embarrassment is all about, and that’s why I chose films which had national pride in it; pride of the uniform,” he says. Last year, Suniel stepped into the shoes of a father on screen too, as he played actor Khushi Kapoor’s dad in Nadaaniyan.

Speaking about being a parent to his children — actors Athiya Shetty, 33, and Ahan Shetty, 30 — Suniel believes that the responsibility of parenthood never truly ends, no matter how old children become.

“As a parent, you always have your children’s comfort in the back of your mind driving your decisions. So whether it’s career, health, or parenting, that is something that will always be a concern,” he says, adding, “That is the beauty of parenthood, the beauty of being a mom, dad, grandma or grandpa.”

For the 64-year-old, watching his children carve their own paths has been a source of pride. Athiya began her career as an actor in 2015 but chose to step away from the profession to focus on her family after marrying cricketer K L Rahul in 2023 and welcoming their daughter, Evaarah Vipula Rahul last year. Ahan, meanwhile, had a challenging start to his acting journey with Tadap (2021), but found renewed success this year with Border 2.

Suniel shares, “I’m very happy with the way they’ve conducted themselves, the way they’ve projected themselves and the impact that they have on people and kids their age. But that concern, love, and that feeling of wanting everything to be fairy tale-like for your children, that is something that’ll never change.”