Suniel Shetty's Emotional Moment Reveals Depth of Early Career Struggles
Suniel Shetty recently shared a deeply personal and emotional moment about his son Ahan's career journey. The veteran actor broke down while speaking at an event in Mumbai. He was launching a song from the film Border 2 alongside Ahan and the film's team.
The Weight of Responsibility and Second Chances
Suniel became visibly emotional when discussing Ahan landing his second major film role. His voice choked with emotion as he emphasized the responsibility involved. He recalled telling Ahan that wearing the uniform for Border 2 was about more than just appearance.
The actor reflected on the period after Ahan's debut film Tadap failed to make a mark at the box office. "There's always turmoil in our lives," Suniel stated, pushing back against assumptions that being a star's son guarantees easy success.
He acknowledged the struggles Ahan faced during that break between films. Suniel expressed happiness that his son received Border 2 as his second opportunity. He prayed that Ahan had done justice to the role and that the film would succeed for everyone involved.
Why Early Career Failures Hit So Hard
Sonal Khangarot, a licensed rehabilitation counsellor and psychotherapist, explains the psychological impact of early career setbacks. She notes that for young adults, work becomes closely tied to identity and self-worth.
"At this stage, professional setbacks are not experienced as isolated events," Khangarot explains. "They feel like evidence about who they are and what they're capable of."
The expert highlights several factors that intensify the impact:
- Validation from work often substitutes for internal validation
- Social comparison with peers' visible successes
- The emotional brain prioritizing present threats over future reassurance
- Failure feeling like a risk to stability and personal growth
Rebuilding Confidence After Career Disappointment
Khangarot offers practical strategies for recovering from career setbacks. She emphasizes that rebuilding requires emotional processing and separating identity from outcomes.
Healthy approaches include:
- Separating self-worth from professional outcomes to reduce seeing failure as personal flaw
- Allowing space to fully experience emotions like grief, shame, or anger
- Rebuilding confidence through small, achievable tasks that restore competence
- Investing in roles and identities beyond work for emotional balance
- Seeking reflective support from trusted people or professionals
- Gradually reshaping personal narrative to view setbacks as learning phases
The psychotherapist stresses that with supportive reflection and time, disappointment can become a growth phase rather than a defining personal failure. This approach helps build psychological resilience for future challenges.
Suniel Shetty's raw emotional display and the expert insights together paint a complete picture of why early career failures carry such weight. They show how public expectations, personal identity, and emotional processing all intersect during these challenging periods.
