Published 16:02 IST, May 12th 2020
Suniel Shetty hailed after feat in 1996 incident goes viral, Athiya says, 'didn't know'
Suniel Shetty was hailed by celebrities after his role in the 1996 incident of rescue of sex workers was showcased recently. Athiya also didn't know about it.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, words like ‘stranded’ and ‘rescue’ are being witnessed. Be it donating to the various relief funds or help to the daily wage workers and the needy, the efforts of the celebrities have become a talking point. Close to 25 years ago, Suniel Shetty did so too, but the scale of the gesture was more massive.
Suniel Shetty helped rescue 128 sex workers from Mumbai’s Kamathipura, and helped them travel to Nepal in 1996. A story by a video platform was recently published, after which the video started doing the rounds on the actor’s fan clubs on Twitter.
In the video, a woman is heard saying that after the police had cordoned off the area and rescued the sex workers on February 5, 1996, those from Nepal were in limbo because the Nepal government refused to accept them for not having birth certificates or citizenship cards. The woman revealed that Suniel arranged the flight tickets for the sex workers to help them go to Nepal.
Here’s the video
Hate Story 2 actor Jay Bhanushali marvelled at the story, sharing how Suniel had never mentioned it to him despite meeting so many times. He termed it as ‘class’ and conveyed his love and respect to his ‘anna.'
As a trade analyst also hailed the ‘noble act’ and not knowing about it, Suniel’s daughter Athiya Shetty also replied that she had not heard about it either.
As the video went viral, Suniel opened up on it in an interview with an entertainment portal and said that he was not the only one who had participated in the initiative then. He stated that his mother-in-law’s NGO that helped children, Naresh Goyal’s Jet Airways, Mumbai Police and the Shiv Sena government at that time all played a major role. They all decided to do in a low-key manner, and they have kept it so even after the successful rescue.
Meanwhile, the Darbar star recently featured in the Gully Gang song with Akshay Kumar and others to urge all to stay at home. He has also been attempted cooking recently and quipped about ‘burning calories.’
Updated 16:02 IST, May 12th 2020