The 9/11 attacks in the United States of America sent shivers through everybody's spine; it is one of those global attacks that, even to date, remains synonymous with absolute terror. After the attacks, the US government became extremely vigilant. It was around the same time in 2001 that Sanjay Gupta was shooting for 'Kaante' in Los Angeles. The iconic film featured Amitabh Bachchan, Suniel Shetty, Sanjay Dutt, Lucky Ali, and other significant actors. Suniel Shetty recently recalled an incident that happened to him while shooting for the film in the US.
While speaking to Chanda Kochhar for her podcast, Suniel revealed that he was held at gunpoint by the police in the US. He mentioned that, as per him, that happened to him because of his appearance, especially because of the beard that he had kept back in the day. Suniel spoke about how he got to know about the 9/11 attack on the TV on the first day of the shoot. The actor went downstairs, and when he was getting back to his room, he realized that he had forgotten his key, which made people suspicious.
Suniel recalled, "I was walking into the hotel, got into the lift, and realized I had forgotten my keys. This American gentleman was there. He kept looking at me, and I asked, 'Do you have the keys? Because I have forgotten mine, and my staff has gone out.' He ran out and created a commotion. Suddenly, the cops arrived, gunmen from the street, and they said, 'Down or we shoot.'"
He added, "I didn't know what was happening. So I had to go down on my knees. They handcuffed me."
The actor then spoke about how the film's production crew had to intervene in this situation and that a hotel manager who was Pakistani clarified that Suniel was an actor.
Suniel said, "And that's when the production team came, and one of the managers—a Pakistani gentleman at the hotel—stepped in and said, 'He is an actor.' All that we went through at that time was insane. I didn't know what was going to happen next because there was so much commotion, and my beard was that jawline beard."
The actor in the same conversation spoke about why the confusion must have taken place; he said that when he got on the lift, he realized that the operator did not understand English. Suniel tried to gesture to him about not having a key, but that worked against him.
