Suneil Shetty: Nobody will risk Rs 50 cr film on me but on Akshay Kumar, they will risk even Rs 500 cr

Veteran Bollywood actor Suniel Shetty, who has been a part of the industry for the last three decades, explains the importance of box-office collection in the actor’s career and how choosing the right subject gives an actor both the required image and the collection. 

Talking about the actors of his generation such as Akshay Kumar and Ajay Devgn, who carved a space for themselves so well and are minting money at the box office, Shetty says, “Nobody will risk a Rs 50-crore film on Suniel Shetty today, but they will risk a Rs 500-crore film with Akshay Kumar. Perhaps because of the mistakes, I made but that is fine. Probably that experience will be used by my son.” 

Shetty says, his problem was not being typecast, rather it was playing safe. He reveals that banners would affect him more than the subjects he was approached for. “'I will only work with XYZ', 'who's the director?' That means you don't have your own judgement,” he says. 

According to Shetty, as an actor, it becomes important to keep experimenting. While praising actors like Tiger Shroff and Ayushmann Khurrana who are diverse in their acting skills, Shetty explains, “What's very important is to get an image and they have built a definite image for themselves. These two names can only be appreciated, hats off to them.” 

The 59-year-old actor, over the years, has made his mark in various genres of films from romantic to comedy. He has been seen in the hit movies such as Mohra, Border, Sapoot during his early years. He has also shared screen space in the movies such as Hera Pheri series, Dhadkan, Awara Pagal Deewaana and Mani Hoon Na playing different roles in each of the movies. 

Calling it an unbelievable journey and that he is grateful for being in the film industry, Shetty says his journey in Bollywood will help his son Ahan Shetty pave his path, now that the latter is all set to enter Bollywood with a Telugu remake of RX100.