Suniel Shetty recalls rejecting Border after hearing of JP Dutta's temper: ‘I might just slap him'

Indian Express

19-05-2025

Actor Suniel Shetty has been in the industry for over three decades now. The actor has had some iconic films to his credit, JP Dutta's Border is one of them. While he received lots of love and adulation for his role in the war film, there was a time when Suniel had rejected the offer to do Border. Recently, in a conversation with Radio Nasha, the actor shared how he had initially said no to the film due to director JP Dutta's bad temper. However, later on, he went on to become great friends with the director.
Talking about how he had made a judgment about JP Dutta based on a few stories he heard, Suniel said, 'I had initially said no to Border because there was a hearsay, JP Dutta was very strict, and if he got upset, he would verbally abuse too. I was hot-tempered too, so he had come to meet me, and I had told him that I would get back. But I told my secretary that I will not be able to do this, because if he ended up verbally abusing me, I might just raise my hand at him because I am as hot-tempered, so I will hit back. I didn't want to spoil relations with anybody.'
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He further added, 'But JP was so adamant on having me as Bhairav Singh in Border that he connected with Bharat Shah, who knew my mother-in-law. So when the film came through her and she sat me down and explained, I agreed, and kept a condition that if he abused, I would walk out of the film then. But then, from the first day JP and I hit it like a house on fire, I genuinely feel that he is one fellow who cast me in his film even in my worst phase. He never saw the commercial aspects of my films; that's what you call a true friend.'
'I must have missed so many relationships and beautiful people in my life, assuming or hearing something about someone. From then I decided that I would weigh every relationship of mine, and not allow judgment from others to come into my life. Since then, I have seen such a change in my life that it's unbelievable,' Suniel Shetty said.
On the work front, Suniel Shetty will be seen in Kesari Veer, which releases on 23rd May. As for JP Dutta, he is making Border 2, which also stars Suniel Shetty's son Ahan, other than Sunny Deol, Ayushmann Khurrana, Diljit Dosanjh, Paramvir Singh Cheema, and Varun Dhawan, amongst others.