Suniel Shetty on how his character from ‘Dhadkan’ helped him bag his first award

Mumbai: Bollywood actor Suniel Shetty recalled how his character Dev from the 2000 film ‘Dhadkan’ helped him in winning his first Filmfare Award for best villain. He also shared the story of grabbing the opportunity of playing Dev in the film.

He shared: “It took approximately three to four years to make ‘Dhadkan’. Director Dharmesh ji had come to me and before narrating the script, he told me one thing; he said that I will definitely love the character and guaranteed that I will get my first award because of the role. I was impressed by his confidence because during that time period, many people believed that I existed only because of action films.”

Directed by Dharmesh Darshan. ‘Dhadkan’ is an romantic film released in 2000 starring Akshay Kumar, Shilpa Shetty, and Suniel Shetty in lead roles. The story was inspired by Emily Bronte’s 1847 novel Wuthering Heights.

He further added how he got an opportunity to play Dev in the film: “I said ‘yes’ to the role but Dharmesh ji postponed the shooting by four to five months and due to shoot commitments, I was unable to adjust the dates. With a very heavy heart, I had to let go of the film. They started shooting with someone else, but Dharmesh ji wasn’t convinced as he felt that only I could do justice to the character of Dev.”

Suniel had done several action films in the 1990s and he received a lot of fame with the films like ‘Dilwale’, ‘Mohra’, ‘Gopi Kishan’, ‘Rakshak’, among others. Later, he acted in other genres and became part of romantic movies such as ‘Pyaar Ishq Aur Mohabbat’, ‘Dhadkan’ or comedy films such as ‘Hera Pheri’, and many more. Currently, he is part of the web series ‘Hunter – Tootega Nahi, Todega’.

The 61-year-old actor also learned an important lesson while working in the movie ‘Dhadkan’.

“Being such a huge director, he came back to me, and I was really touched by this. Eventually, I learnt a very important lesson about acting i.e., acting is all about your belief in the character and your confidence. That actually worked out for me, and I actually received the Best Villain award for the same.” He appeared on the singing reality show as a celebrity guest.

‘Indian Idol 13’ airs on Sony Entertainment Television.

–IANS