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Suniel Shetty questions why films focus on Akbar, Babur, not Shivaji Maharaj and Rajput kings: ‘Our history should be about our culture’

Suniel Shetty shared his views on films being made on historical figures like Akbar and Babur, while Rajput kings and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj are talked about far less.

3 min readChennaiFeb 5, 2026 12:41 PM IST

Suniel Shetty talksa about his film Kesari Veer . (Photo: Suniel Shetty/Instagram)

Suniel Shetty starred in the 2025 film Kesari Veer, which was based on the multiple destructions of the Somnath Temple in Gujarat. However, the film released and was taken down without creating much noise at the box office. In a recent interaction, Suniel spoke about why the film didn’t work commercially and also shared his views on films being made on historical figures like Akbar and Babur, while he said that Rajput kings and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj are not talked about enough.

Speaking to Lehren Retro about Kesari Veer and how he did extensive research on the history of the Somnath Temple before starring in the film, he said, “We did a lot of research before making the film, but unfortunately, the distribution of the film was not done properly. Distribution is a big game, we didn’t get theatres., Producer lost a lot of money because he was distributing it himself with people and that didn’t work. A good film went down the drain.”

When asked if he feels strongly about the subject, Suniel said, “Why do we talk about Aurangzeb, Akbar, Babur, Birbal? Our history should be about our culture. It should be about Vedas and the Rajputs and Shivaji Maharaj and everybody else, every hero of every state should be spoken about.” He added, “I feel strongly and emotional about Somnath temple. How many times it was plundered but it is still standing.”

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Earlier, while promoting his film Prithviraj Chauhan, actor Akshay Kumar had demanded that Indian history textbook should focus on ‘our culture’. “Unfortunately, our history textbooks only have 2-3 lines about Samrat Prithviraj Chauhan, but a lot has been mentioned about the invaders. There is hardly anything mentioned about our culture and our Maharajas. I was taken aback that there is so much about Samrat Prithviraj Chauhan that we don’t know about.”

In early January, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the Somnath Temple in Gujarat to participate in the “Somnath Swabhiman Parv,” marking 1,000 years since the first recorded invasion of the shrine in 1026. The occasion saw a 72-hour continuous Omkar chanting. The Prime Minister also led the “Shaurya Yatra” and witnessed a 3,000-drone light show.

Suniel Shetty recently made a cameo in Border 2, which starred his son Ahan Shetty, along with Sunny Deol—who was also part of the original 1997 film—Diljit Dosanjh, and Varun Dhawan in lead roles. Suniel also has the multi-starrer Welcome to the Jungle in the pipeline and is also a part of Hera Pheri 3.

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