Suniel Shetty was to play a baddie in Prabhudheva’s next film being produced by Ajay Devgn. He was to go bald for the role. When signing on for the role, he told After Hrs, “If I am going to play a bald character, I want it to be as authentic as possible. There is no mid-way. I would like to do something like the villain’s role in Transporter which is fantastic and has great body language too. I want to be a villain whom Hindi cinema hasn’t seen before.” But now he has walked out of the film. He confirms, “I met Prabhu and told him I couldn’t do the film. They wanted me to go completely bald but it would be very difficult for me to staying like that for months as I have other films to do. Also I am not comfortable about going bald.”
An insider reveals that Suniel has opted out of the film to be a part of Border 2. JP Dutta is casting for Border (1997) sequel and after signing Sunny Deol, he has now roped in Suniel as well. The sequel is based on the true-life story of The Battle of Basantar fought in 1971. Suniel confirms, “Yes, I have spoken to JP saab about Border 2. We start shooting by the end of this year. This will be my fifth film with him after Border, Refugee, LOC Kargil and Umrao Jaan. Nobody presents films like JP saab. The amount of respect that I have got from the army, navy, air force, customs and police is unbelievable... and it’s only because of Border, Refugee, LOC Kargil, and the uniform I wore in these films.”
In Border, Suniel played BSF commandant Bhairon Singh, an officer at an outpost in the deserts of Rajasthan. about his role in the sequel he says, “I don’t know much about my role, except for what JP saab has told me... that it’s fantastic! I am happy to do the film as he’s one of the only directors who makes patriotic films. He will be back from London on August 10 and narrate the role to me. For JP saab, I would do any role without hesitating.
I know after LOC there were some actors who were unhappy with him, but that happens in the industry sometimes. We get upset and we cool down. JP saab is like my family. We have a great relationship. He has always given me fantastic roles in all his films. For this movie, the only brief that I have got from him is that I have to start training for it as it’s an action-oriented film. This time, more than the war, the movie will have very strong emotional content. It’s about both the sides fighting the war, and is a very positive and beautiful script.”
