Suniel Shetty couldn't maintain his stardom what he had attained in 1990s. Like his contemporaries Ajay Devgn or Akshay Kumar he failed to show his versatility in acting, failed to select the right scripts and to select the roles which are appropriate to him.
Suniel Shetty attained stardom by working mainly as an action hero and people liked him to see him in that image rather than in other genres. But he couldn't give constant box office hits, many of his films failed at the box office. Gradually he switched on to do supporting roles and also negative roles in a number of films.
In an interview he stated that his last 30 years in the industry was purely because of his action image that gave him an opportunity to do comedy films.
He admitted that staying away from his established image as an action hero didn't always work in his favour.
Suniel Shetty tried to do different types of roles rather than action roles but people didn't welcome it. The audience or his fans preferred to see him as an action hero, so his decision to switch over to other various roles had become a main reason for his downfall. He also accepted with wrong scripts, it became a blow for him, he lost his stardom and also his films miserably failed at the box office. Suniel Shetty also felt that, it's better not to do anything.
When his films failed, he started to concentrate more on his business, he gave more importance to his business when he didn't get good opportunities and so he couldn't work consistently in the films. He also failed to give quality films, so because of all these reasons a gap generated between him and the audience.
Even in the initial stage of his career Suniel Shetty faced rejections from several actresses and producers due to his dark complexion. He was also advised by the industry people not to get married so early which may affect upon his career. He got married even before when his first film got released.
Since 2000 he began to do negative roles with the first negative role in the film Dhadkan in 2000, for that he won Filmfare Award also. After the film Dhadkan he did negative roles in a number of films like Khel: No Ordinary Game in 2003, Baaz: A Bird In Danger in 2003, Mai Hoon Na in 2004, Rudraksh in 2004, No Problem in 2010 and A Gentleman in 2017.
One cannot forget that Suniel Shetty was one among the most successful actors of 1990s. He gave big hits like Mohra in 1994, Gopi Kishen in 1994, Dilwale in 1994, Border in 1997 and comedy films like Hera Pheri in 2000, Aawara Pagal Deewana in 2002, Phir Hera Pheri in 2006, One Two Three in 2008 and De Dana Dan in 2009.
Suniel Shetty has acted in over 100 films in 3 decades of his filmy career, he made his acting debut in 1992 with the film Balwaan.
He became a producer in 2003 with the film Khel: No Ordinary Game, further he produced, Rakht, comedy film Bhagam Bhag, Mission Istaanbul EMI and Loot.
Apart from Hindi he acted in Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu, Marathi, English and Turkish films.
Though he couldn't maintain his stardom in the film field, as an entrepreneur he is very successful by becoming the owner chain of restaurants, he owns clothing boutiques, R House, a luxury furniture and home lifestyle store and owns many other business ventures.