Friends ditch Suniel Shetty

Industry folks will confirm that Suneil has earned a lot of goodwill in Bollywood.

He has always stood by his friends and given a little extra helping hand to those in need. So when he formed his production company, Popcorn Entertainment and signed on his close friends to act in his films, he least expected problems from those that had been closest to his heart.

Topping the list of close friends are Sanjay Dutt and Govinda.

Suniel had signed on Sanjay for his home-production EMI when no producers were willing to touch him because he was just out on bail.

Little did Suniel imagine that his good deed would become a burden on his finances.

Sanjay started shooting for EMI and around the same time he tied the knot with Manyata. Wife Manyata took over Sanjay’s life completely and influenced Sanjay to change his diet and get back in shape. Soon Sanjay was looking fresh and fit.

Things were fine until Sanjay noticed that in certain portions of EMI he looked older because of his weight. Both Manyata and Sanjay felt that his look may hamper his image so they told Suniel to re-shoot these portions.

Reportedly, Suniel tried to talk Sanjay out of it; but Sanjay would not listen to reason. He then did what many actors do when they do not get their way. He refused to give dates for dubbing and as a result the film which was slated for an August release is still lying in the cans. Sanjay has made it clear that he will not dub for the film till Suniel re-shoots! But Suneil’s troubles did not end with Sanjay. His other close friend Govinda also started making unnecessary demands.

Though Govinda claims that it is Salman who helped him make a comeback, not many know that it was Suniel’s home-production Bhagam Bhaag with Akshay Kumar which was Govinda’s comeback film. At that point Govinda was very grateful to Suneil because his career was going nowhere.

He played on Suneil’s emotions and got into Loot.

In the meantime Govinda became very friendly with Salman while shooting for Partner. With his new found success after Partner became a hit, he forgot about old friend Suneil.