Meet Suniel Shetty's wife Mana Shetty, an entrepreneur and social activist

A businesswoman, designer and social activist, Mana Shetty's dad was a Gujarati Muslim, Iftikhar M Kadri who was an architect by profession and her Hindu mother Vipula Kadri was a social activist. She has a sister Isha Mehra who is also a social activist and a brother Rahul Kadri who is an architect. 

Mana Shetty owns a luxury decor and gift items lifestyle store named R-House in Mumbai. She has a real-estate project S2 which she started with her husband Suniel Shetty under which, 21 luxury villas were constructed in Mumbai. Mana is associated with 'Save the Children India' NGO. Additionally, she also organises an exhibition named 'Araaish', the money obtained from which is used to help underprivileged women. She also runs a clothing brand named "Mana and Isha" along with her sister. 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Suniel Shetty (@suniel.shetty)

As per reports, Suniel Shetty first saw Mana at Pastry Palace on the Napean Sea Road, a place he frequently visited to meet his friends. To get closer to Mana, Suniel befriended her sister Isha so he could get introduced to her. After a few meetings with her, Suniel realised she was the one for him and so he requested his friend to organise a party and invite Mana. After the party, apparently, the duo went for a bike ride and soon enough realised they had called for each other!

Monisha Kadri aka Mana hailed from a part-Punjabi and part-Muslim family, while Suniel came from a Tulu-speaking Bunt community of Karnataka. And so, their families were against Suniel and Mana's marriage owing to the stark differences in their culture. It took them nine long years to get their families to agree before they finally got hitched in 1991. During an interview with ETimes, when Suniel was asked about who proposed to whom, he said, "I don't know…it just happened. He shared, "because the parents were against it, they kind of set the proposal on their own, they had us believe that we are getting married. So because we were serious and that is why mentally we got in that frame of mind where I started saying I don’t care. He added, "I think it is very uncanny. But that is how it happened and we believed that we were made for each other. And that is the way it is."

Suniel Shetty and Mana Shetty chose December 25, 1991, to tie the knot. And every year since, they pick a destination to celebrate their anniversary. The couple is blessed with a daughter Athiya Shetty who has carved her own niche in the Hindi film industry and son Ahan Shetty, who reportedly make his debut in Bollywood soon.