Suniel dislocates shoulder on stage

By: Subhash K. Jha, IndiaFM
Wednesday, September 05, 2007

No one knows this except the star's family. But on Saturday night when Suniel Shetty performed live for the grand finale of his "new passion", the weight-losing reality show Biggest Loser Jeetega, his shoulder had been dislocated.

Flinging aside the sling on his arm, Suniel went on stage with Malaika Arora against medical advice.

"But it was worth it," Suniel avers. "Although I ended up with a frozen shoulder I think it was imperative for me to show my solidarity on stage with my kids. I think what the Biggest Loser winners Sandeep Sachndev and Natasha Grover have proved goes beyond the gimmicks of reality television. Sandeep lost 56 kgs. Another contestant Ajay Nagrath lost even more weight but got eliminated in the 'challenge' round."

To see Sandeep as a celebrity in his own right gives Suniel a great high. "After losing weight Sandeep looks like an Italian star. My company is looking into signing him for a film. I want to ensure that the contestants benefit the utmost from their new regimen and rhythm in life. It's not just at the gym-level that I bonded with these kids. We've formed an emotional bonding. Every kilo they shed I've shed tears of pain and joy with them." Suniel recalls the struggle to see the obese brigade regain their self-esteem by getting into shape. "It was tough, to make them work out in the gym, sometimes for four hours without what they loved the most: food. Whoa! It was as dangerous as forcibly removing the bottle from a baby's mouth. But we did it. The sense of triumph I feel is beyond anything I've experienced in my entire career as an actor or as an entrepreneur."

And now Suniel is raring to go with Season 2 of Biggest Loser Jeetega. "We should be back in January. And so what if it takes eight months of my life? To give a new lease of life to people who are often on the verge of giving up gives my sense of fulfillment I can"t describe."