Bhaskar Interview: Ahan Shetty said – Father’s gurumantra is to focus more on becoming a ‘good’ person in career; Everything else will happen automatically

Suniel Shetty’s son Ahan Shetty is making his debut with Sajid Nadiadwala’s banner Tadap. The film is an adaptation of South’s ‘RX 100’. It is directed by Milan Luthria. Before Ahan, his sister Athiya has also been active in films. In a special conversation with Dainik Bhaskar, Ahan has expressed his preparations, expectations and claims. Here are the key excerpts from the conversation with Ahan-

We heard that you prepared for four years before the film went on floors?
Yes. I graduated from American School of Bombay in the year 2014. During that time, Athiya went to the New York Film Academy. On coming from there, he told me that there is no point to go there, because what is taught there is completely different from what happens here on the sets. That is, if you learn there, then you will have to come back here and unlearn all that. As a result, I started taking training from one on one people after graduation. I took training from Barry John, Mukesh Chhabra, Abhishek Pandey ji. Varun Dhawan was trained by Abhishek ji at Badlapur. Simultaneously, I kept taking training in martial arts, gym, guitar, Hindi. All this continued nonstop till the year 2016. Alam was that I could also meet my girlfriend Tanya in London on a gap of several months. However, after all these sessions, I met Sajid Nadiadwala sir.

Did you meet Sajid yourself or did he find you?
He had seen some of my dance and action videos. He then asked common friend Vikram Razdan whether it would be possible to meet Ahan. Vikram is also the co-producer of ‘Tadap’. Finally, in April 2016, I had my first meeting with Sajid sir. In that he also asked for my acting videos. However, in September 2016, he signed a contract with me. At that time I was only 19-20 years old. Till then Sajid sir kept telling me that I have to mature a little more. A little more beard should come on the face. Then I kept on grooming for two more years. ‘RX 100’ released in July 2018. On seeing that, we decided that we have to do it. In this way it was a process of four years before going on the shoot.

What kind of films did you groom yourself with since childhood?
I have been watching every genre except horror. If I used to see horror, I would sleep at night. Ardwise used to watch Hollywood, Bollywood all. Mainly action.

What did you do to build a body?
It was very tough for me to put on the weights. I used to eat small 10 to 11 meals daily. I was eating every two hours. Sometimes it so happened that the lunch was not finished that by then the snack at four o’clock would come out. It took me three years to gain 10 to 11 kg of weight.

What Gurumantra did your father give?
That is, you have to act well, don’t just keep thinking about that. Focus more on how to be a good person. Identified as a good-hearted person, neither will everything else happen. Therefore, there was no such advice from his side regarding acting.

What did Ranveer Singh do for his angry young man character in ‘Tadap’ like Ranveer Singh used to live in anger on the sets of ‘Padmaavat’ for months on purpose?
Our shooting style was different. We used to shoot intense one day and light mood characters the next day. So the jump went on between the characters. In such a situation, my focus was on keeping myself happy during the shoot. Yes, I used to get engrossed in the color of the character as soon as the camera was on.

Which movies of your father have you liked?
‘Hera Pheri’ apparently, for his comic timing. The kind of patriotism in ‘Border’ was amazing. My dad had a great performance in ‘Hututu’. As a villain, ‘Main Hoon Na’ was excellent.

Sunil and Athiya like both cricket and cricketer, what is the matter with you?
(laughs) I like it too. As a child, I used to go to Islam Gym Khana in the town side on the nets. Then when I went to college, I fell in love with football there. Then after the 2002 World Cup, Ronaldo’s hair cut was also kept. Obviously I also enjoy cricket with Papa and Athiya. The football team of Bunty Walia, MS Dhoni, Shreyas Iyer etc. also come there.

Have you ever met cricketer KL Rahul?
Yes. I am very close to him. We have a lot of camaraderie with each other. Our personality is quite similar.

You have been quite the Shai, how easy was it to do the kissing scene with Tara Sutaria in the film?
We both got ten days to go through the script before going on the shoot. Milan Luthria sir is a different kind of director. He did not like that the actors came on the sets by memorizing the script. Instead, he used to get us improvised on the sets. I was very nervous about the kissing scene with the rest of Tara. During the screen test with him, my hands were trembling. Milan sir still makes fun of that moment. Slowly I and Tara Sutaria became comfortable with each other.