Suniel Shetty was worried he might ‘beat up’ JP Dutta on Border set, was told the director ‘abused’ his actors

But Dutta was keen on casting Shetty as Captain Bhairon Singh in the film, so he pursued him for two-three months and finally approached the actor’s mother-in-law to convince him. Shetty narrated, “When he came to me with Border, I refused to sign it. He made me hear the subject, I respected him but then I said no. He couldn’t understand why I had said no to that character. That struggle went on for 2-3 months and he was hell-bent on me doing that character. He got to Bharat Shah, who lived in my mother-in-law’s building, and he then went to my mother-in-law. It was her who convinced me to do Border.”

Shetty, however, made it clear to his mother-in-law that he might get into a physical fight with Dutta if the filmmaker wasn’t respectful, as both of them were hot-headed. “I told mom that he is hot-headed and he might say things. I am hot-headed too. I might use my arm for certain things. So, I don’t want to bash up with JP Dutta and beat him up on the set. She told him that and JP said, ‘I only get upset when people don’t give their 100 per cent'”, the actor shared.

Border had an ensemble cast including actors Sunny Deol, Suniel Shetty, Akshaye Khanna, Jackie Shroff, Puneet Issar, Kulbhushan Kharbanda and others.

When asked if the two ever got into a fistfight, Shetty, without revealing much, just said, “It has happened a few times, not on set, but outside, when we were troubled.”

But now, 26 years after the release of Border, Shetty speaks fondly of the filmmaker. For him, Dutta is his ‘guru’ now. Speaking about the film director, the actor said, “After working with him in Border, I realised he is in love with the Indian forces otherwise he would have been a commercial director, he would have done 100 films, but he only did what he believed in. For me, he is my guru today, master craftsman, and phenomenal human being.”

Border starred an ensemble cast including actor Sunny Deol, Akshaye Khanna, Jackie Shroff, Puneet Issar, Sudesh Berry and others. Shetty revealed that the entire unit of the film was not just actors but also included army men and BSF jawans. He described his experience of working on the film as “magical” and also shared that after shooting the song “Sandese Aate Hai”, everyone on the set was in “absolute tears”.

Upon its release, Border was a massive success and it opened the gates for many more war films.