‘Hero’ actress Athiya Shetty hopes for a long stint in Bollywood

Athiya Shetty is yet to make her Bollywood debut but the young actress says she loves acting and hopes to have a very long film career.

Athiya, 22, is the daughter of Bollywood actor Suniel Shetty, and she will make her dream debut with superstar Salman Khan’s production Hero alongside another newcomer Sooraj Pancholi. “My hearty lies with acting. I am very passionate about it. I enjoy being on sets. So, films are something that I am going to continue to do. Hopefully, fingers crossed, I am going to stay in the film industry for a very long time,” Athiya said.

The actress confidently walked the ramp hand-in-hand with her Hero co-star at designer duo Shane and Falguni Peacock’s IBFW show on Saturday night.

When asked if she ever thought of taking up modelling as a career, she said, “No I had never really given it much thought. I was pretty nervous on the ramp.” Sooraj, son of actors Aditya Pancholi and Zarina Wahab, took to the platform to thank Salman for giving him the chance of a lifetime with Hero. “I don’t think I have words to express how I feel about Salman sir. He has given us the biggest platform and a dream break that any debutante can ask for. We are here because of him,” the 25-year-old actor said.

Hero has been directed by Nikhil Advani and is a remake of Subhash Ghai’s directed 1983 film of the same name, which starred Jackie Shroff. The film will hit theatres on September 11.