In a world of suave villains, Shetty stands apart. He acted in villainous roles and composed fights for numerous films.Born Muddu Babu Shetty in 1938 in Mangalore, he started as a waiter in a Tata company canteen at Cotton Green, Bombay after which he got into boxing and bodybuilding. He was spotted by Pran who saw his potential as an actor. Pran convinced the director S Mukherjee to give Shetty a chance to be the fight director in Munimji (1955). From there on he directed fight scenes in several hit films of 1960s and 70s.
Shetty started playing villainous roles in 1970s. He had a robust physique, cold eyes and a serious expression on his face, seldom seen talking on screen. A fight scene without Shetty was not complete in those days of 1970s. His bald look was so much liked by the audience that he used to shave his head every other day. His only flaw was his faulty Hindi accent. It was the reason why he could not get the role of a main villain in Bollywood films. He was not much educated and knew that he won’t be able to converse with the intellectual people off and on screen. He was very kind at heart and always helped the needy people, having seen the hard days he knew what scarcity was.
His strong screen presence are in films; namely, An Evening In Paris (1967), Kab? Kyuun? Aur Kahan? (1970), Seeta Aur Geeta (1972), Victoria No. 203 (1972), Kahani Kismat Ki (1973), Yaadon Ki Baraat (1973), International Crook (1974), Fakira (1974), Deewar (1975), Trishul (1978), Don (1978), The Great Gambler (1979) and Jail Yatra (1981).
Shetty’s popularity was such that a film ‘Tum Salamat Raho’ with him as the leading man was launched. His heroine in the film was Persis Khambatta. Unfortunately, the shooting of the film stopped mid way due to some problems.
In his last days, the various injuries he sustained during the fight scenes started troubling him. Shetty, who was once a formidable man, became helpless and vulnerable and a fall at home proved fatal. He bid farewell to the world on 23 January 1982 at the age of 44.His son Rohit Shetty is a successful Bollywood director.
