Raj Kundra says people told him ‘mooh dikhane layak nahi raha’ after he was jailed; reveals what Shilpa Shetty told their 11-year-old son about him

In an interview with Indianexpress.com, Raj Kundra said his arrest and the subsequent media coverage was a dizzying phase for him family. He is married to actor Shilpa Shetty and the couple has two kids.

“My daughter is too young to read stuff online, but my son is now 11… I am his hero. He trusts me, has faith in me. We tell him not to be worried, he is not on social media, so he won’t read comments. But you know friends talk… But I also know that at that age there is a unity. He did ask Shilpa what happened, why, how. She gave him an appropriate answer to give to a 11-year-old,” he said.

But the people commenting online on him and his family, Raj said, were just “nameless, faceless keyboard warriors”. At one point the businessman said Shilpa asked him to not give into the urge of replying to all the hateful comments. Raj will be making his acting debut in the film UT 69, which is inspired by his time in the jail.

 

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A post shared by Shilpa Shetty Kundra (@theshilpashetty)

“It used to hurt me in the beginning, I wanted to reply but Shilpa said, ‘Don’t complain, don’t explain. We know you haven’t done anything wrong, and if a guy comments and you reply, you are only going to give him attention. Let the law take its course and when that happens, everyone will know you did no wrong.’

“But I disagree with it to some extent, because I feel when there is bad news, it is amplified and becomes a front-page news, but when it good news, it is reduced to a small column. There is no redemption there. Maybe this film will be my closure.”

After he was out from jail, Raj was only seen publicly covering his face with masks. Initially, the thought was to limit media access to him, but the businessman says he soon started to “play around” with it.

“It feels good to be without the mask, it was claustrophobic for me, just like my life has been the last few years. It started off as just pain from the media stories, where I didn’t want to give access to anyone. Slowly, I started playing with it. I knew people were commenting stuff like, ‘Muh dikhane layak nahi raha, sharminda hai‘ but if that was the case, I wouldn’t have 70 different masks of various colours!

“The pain has not gone away and won’t. There was yellow journalism in my case. It was unfair, don’t pronounce someone guilty before the law decides it. My final redemption will happen when the clean chit comes from the court,” he added.

Billed as a true story, UT 69 is directed by Shahnawaz Ali. According to the makers, UT 69 takes a satirical look into the real-life incidents of Raj Kundra’s days spent in Arthur Road jail. The film is scheduled to release in theatres on November 3.