Happy Birthday Suniel Shetty – A sneak peak into some lesser known facts about Bollywood’s favourite ‘Anna’

Bollywood actor Suniel Shetty is ringing in his 59th birthday today, he is one such versatile actor who has entertained the audience in all genres be it with comedy, action or with his romantic acts in various movies. Inspite of being a public figure, and such a huge star, there is very little that his fans get to know about his personal life. Thus today on the occasion of his birthday we share with you some interesting lesser known facts about the actor, that you might not have known before

BLACK BELT IN KICK BOXING

Suniel Shetty, even at his late 50s can give a tough competition to Bollywood youngsters when it comes to fitness, and the root of his fitness goes back to the fact that the actor actually has a black belt in kick boxing, now how many of you knew about it? At the peak of his career in the 90s, he was known as an action hero for his roles in films like ‘Balwan’, ‘Shastra’, ‘Rakshak’ and ‘Border’.

FROM SUNIL TO ‘SUNIEL’

Suniel Shetty, was born on August 11, 1961, and originally from childhood his name was spelt as ‘Sunil’. But later the actor added an ‘e’ to his name, after which now he spells his name as Suniel. He cited numerological astrology as the reason behind this change.

SUNIEL SHETTY & ATHIYA SHETTY’S FIRST FILM RELEASED ON THE SAME DATE

Not many know that Suniel Shetty stepped into the industry with his first film ‘Balwaan’ co-starring late actress Divya Bharti, which released on September 11, 1992 and interestingly his daughter Athiya’s debut Bollywood film ‘Hero’ also released on September 11, which was the same day as of Suniel Shetty’s first film released date, 23 years ago.

A RESTAURANTEUR

Did you know Suniel Shetty holds a degree in Hotel Management and has a keen interest towards food. His favourite food are Fish curry and Thai cuisine, while he is allergic to prawns.

He has established his restaurant business a decade ago with Royal Inn at Khar and his club H2O is widely recognized and praised by both celebrities and common man.

SUNIEL SHETTY’S LOVE STORY

Suniel Shetty has been happily married to Mana Shetty for more than a 25 years and the couple indeed had a filmy love story. Reportedly Suniel, who is from a Tulu-speaking family was instantly impressed by Mana, who hails from a part-Hindu and part-Muslim Family. They first met at a restaurant, when the actor was yet to make his Bollywood debut. Later he asked a common friend to organise a party to get himself introduced to Mana, where the duo instantly hit it off, but owing to their cultural differences, it took 9 years for the couple to convince their parents and they finally tied their knots in 1991.

HIS DEBUT

During his debut film, no actress was willing to work with him since he was a newcomer and not a conventionally good looking guy. But that time Late actress Divya Bharati accepted the offer to be casted opposite him in the film Balwan, which went on to become a cult super hit film.

A MULTI GENRE HERO

Even though Suniel Shetty’s Bollywood career started off with action films but later he went on have been part of hit comedy films like Hera Pheri, Phir Hera Pheri, Awara Pagal Deewana, Deewane Huye Pagal, Thank You, De Dana Dan, Mohra. Interestingly Most of his successful films are with his friend and co-star Akshay Kumar. He has even played the role of a Villian as Raghavan Datta in Main Hoon Na opposite Shah Rukh Khan in 2004 which went on to become that year’s one of the most successful films.

DHADKAN

One of the biggest hit of Suniel Shetty’s life was Dhadkan in the year 2000, which was a romantic-drama film. The film featured Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty and Shilpa Shetty in the lead roles, but initially Suniel Shetty’s role was offered of Sanjay Dutt, but as he was moved to the prison around that time, the film went on to Suniel, which later made him bag his first Filmfare award for best actor in the Negative role.

LOS ANGELES AIRPORT

After the 9/11 attacks in the USA, he was stopped at the Los Angeles airport as he was sporting a beard look that time, for his film Kaante. The officials initially suspected him but later they let him go after recognising him as an Indian actor.

A FITNESS FREAK

The actor in his late 50s is still a fitness freak and a thorough fitness enthusiast, Suniel Sehtty has even launched his own Fitness Channel and has made investment into a fitness start-up Squats and a mobile fitness app FITTR.