SHINEY AHUJA’s Bollywood innings of less than three years have seen him prove his mettle as an actor. With rather unconventional films like Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi to go on to be equally acceptable as a mainstream commercial star with box-office successes like Gangster, Metro and Bhool Bhulaiya. And, in an industry where godfathers, star couples and star-sons seem to be the order of the day, Shiney has made it big on his own.
But, if while on his way up Shiney earned accolades for his intense performances, the actor also saw himself battle an onslaught of rumours and false allegations labelling him arrogant and accusing him of having a high-handed attitude. Interestingly, however, today Shiney has his detractors eating their words because filmmakers and actresses are swearing by his professionalism and expressing the desire to work with him again.
“My honesty has often been mistaken as arrogance. But what can I do, I can’t stop being honest, can I? In this industry, calling a spade a spade can land you in trouble,” he says. However, the actor hasn’t let any of these uncalled-for-tags affect him. “My grandmother always used to say that you know you are successful when there are far more people trying to pull you down, so I guess I can be sure that I have arrived,” laughs the actor who has several big banner films waiting for his nod and the Preity Zinta starrer Har Pall under his belt.
And, while he is quite upbeat about being much in demand, what has Shiney maha excited is the high-octane action flick directed by Kunal Shivdasani that marks his entry into the action territory. “It’s good to be able to do a little herogiri every once in a while,” he admits. Having performed several death-defying stunts himself, the actor’s all set to give B-town’s action heroes a run with this film. Talking about the stunts that almost cost him his life, Shiney reveals, “I always wanted to do dangerous stunts and I loved performing them myself. Pushing oneself to test one’s own limits is very challenging and I wanted to test mine. Also, since I come from an army background - my father is an ex-commando - I’ve always believed that if someone can do it, so can you.”
So can we expect some more action from the actor? “Certainly. Action can be quite addictive and I think I’m already hooked,” says Shiney.
