iWorld
Hunter becomes the heartthrob as Suniel Shetty flips the script on action
MUMBAI: Who says action heroes can’t make you cry between chase scenes? At Goa Fest 2025, Hunter star Suniel Shetty proved that sometimes the most explosive moves are emotional. In a candid fireside chat with Amazon MX Player director Aruna Daryanani Shetty opened up about reinventing action storytelling, ageing on screen with grace, and why advertisers need to drop the “brand unsafe” tag when it comes to meaningful action.
“There’s no point in high-octane fights without high-voltage emotion,” said Shetty, speaking of Hunter, where he plays ACP Vikram Sinha, a bruised but burning father determined to reunite with his daughter. He revealed that the show’s soul, family, music, emotion is what made it a pan-generational success.
“Season 1 was brash,” he said, “but Season 2 is about transformation.”
The new arc?
Vikram, believing his daughter is dead, suddenly receives a call: “Papa, get me out of here.” The series then follows his redemption quest across borders and boundaries, less fists, more feelings.
Shetty’s own return to screen mirrored his character’s struggles. “When I signed Hunter, I’d just recovered from a heart attack. Dad was unwell. Work wasn’t exciting. I felt like I had no market left,” he confessed. But the journey gave him a second wind. “At 38, I thought I was done. Now I’m raising the bar every time I step on set.”
And action has changed too. “Earlier I’d rehearse 15 times. Now I watch 14 times and hit it once with full conviction,” he smiled.
Despite Hunter’s popularity, Shetty called out advertisers who label such shows as “brand unsafe”. “You’re kidding me, right?” he asked the crowd. “Hunter isn’t gore. It’s about a father getting his daughter back. It’s emotional, not explosive for the sake of it.”
When a media professional cited caution around showing violence to children, Shetty countered: “This is about family. Marriage, love, loss, redemption, there’s more to this than punches.”
In a powerful moment, Shetty turned to the audience and asked: “How many of you binge-watch action series? Family Man, Jack Ryan?” As hands tentatively rose, he fired back: “Then why not back us with ads?”
He also addressed the industry’s obsession with sanitised content. “Advertisers should take risks on stories that matter. We’re telling stories that move people sometimes with a fist, sometimes with a tear.”
Having survived multiple career reinventions, Shetty credited his enduring fan base to one simple rule: honesty. “I give 100% to every project whether it’s a Rs 100 crore film or a tight-budget drama.” That effort shows, he believes, in audience reactions. “Once, in Patna, a fan saw me in a theatre and jumped off a balcony to imitate a stunt. That’s the intensity of connection.”
And what’s his advice to the younger generation of actors? “Respect your craft, your producer, your body. It’s not about taking your shirt off anymore. It’s about staying relevant and real.”
With Hunter’s new season blending raw emotion, complex storytelling, and age-defying action, Suniel Shetty has truly rewritten the rules not just of genre, but of how stories age, evolve and punch back. And if advertisers are still stuck on “safe” spaces, they might just be missing the biggest hero arc of them all.
eNews
Paisabazaar launches Credit Premier League 2.0
Nationwide campaign rewards highest credit scores with Rs 1 lakh top prize.
MUMBAI: When credit scores become a national league, even your CIBIL report starts feeling like it’s playing in the IPL and Paisabazaar has just kicked off the second season. Paisabazaar, India’s leading marketplace for financial products and the country’s largest free credit score platform, has announced the return of the Credit Premier League (CPL) 2.0, a fun, nationwide initiative to recognise and reward individuals with the highest credit scores.
Building on the success of the first edition, CPL 2.0 introduces higher rewards and broader participation. The individual(s) with the highest credit score in the country will win Rs 1 lakh, while state champions will each receive Rs 10,000. Additionally, all participants from the winning state, the one with the highest average credit score will also be rewarded.
All winnings will be credited directly to winners’ PB Wallet, allowing them to pay credit card bills, recharge mobiles, or settle utility bills seamlessly on the Paisabazaar platform.
Paisabazaar CEO Santosh Agarwal said the campaign aims to make credit awareness more engaging and mainstream. “With CPL, we are bringing together engagement, gamification and rewards to make conversations around credit scores more mainstream,” he noted. “Our focus remains on building a financially aware and credit-healthy Bharat.”
The first edition of CPL saw over 5.5 million participants, with the highest individual score touching 861. Delhi recorded the highest average credit score of 746.
Consumers can participate simply by checking their free credit score on the Paisabazaar platform or app. The CPL leaderboard and rankings will be available exclusively on the Paisabazaar App.
In a country where financial dreams are serious business, Paisabazaar has found a smart way to turn credit scores into an exciting game – because when your financial health gets rewarded, everyone wants to play.
