I want to play my age on screen, says Suniel Shetty

At a time when several actors are playing characters much younger than their age, Suniel Shetty has no qualms in essaying a role closer to his age. “I want to play my age, I want to play a father, an officer I don’t want to run round trees and don’t want to sing and dance. I believe every age has its own beauty and the confidence through which you carry yourself. I am confident about my craft of acting,” said Suniel Shetty.

The 55-year-old actor, who has been in the film industry for close to 25 years, says even when he entered Bollywood, he was married and never shied away from saying that. “I have accepted that I am father of 24-year-old kids. I was married before I came in the film industry and I never sold a dream that I am single,” he says.

Suniel was on a self-imposed sabbatical from the silver screen for three years but now he is back with a TV show India’s Asli Champion...Hai Dum!, which airs on &TV.

He says he will say no to films if nothing excites him. “I have rejected a lot of films as I was not in the mental space to work. Every time my manager got me a film offer I would say no... there was something in me that I kept saying no to work,” he says.

Talking about his break from films, The Border actor says it was his father Veerappa Shetty who wanted Suniel to spend time with him as he was unwell. “My father’s death was very close to my heart. He passed away in the night I slept in the morning for an hour and when I got up I was analysing lot of things like was I a good son, was I obedient and all. Then I was thinking it was not a conscious decision for me to stop working it was something within that I was disliking it. I had put two and two together I realised it was my dad who wanted me to stay with him as he was unwell in the last three years or so,” he says.

Flagging of NOW, #IndiasAsliChampion on @AndTVOfficial #HaiDum?#AsliChampionOnAndTV #SwasthaBharat pic.twitter.com/lmZc1knidP

— Suniel Shetty (@SunielVShetty) May 6, 2017

Suniel will also be seen in Reloaded alongside Sidharth Malhotra and Jacqueline Fernandez, a silent film, and choreographer-turned-director Bosco Martis’s Circus. “Reloaded’ will be coming in August. I’m playing the role of a mentor to the young recruiters. Sidharth has a lot of energy and potential and he is good looking as well who can carry anything. He is a humble person. It was great working with Raj and DK (director duo). Also I am excited about doing the silent film. It’s too early to talk much in detail about the films,” he says.