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.