Actor Ronit Roy, who also runs a security agency, has revealed that the Covid pandemic was a tough time for his business. The work shut down and he had 130 employees and their families to take care of. Ronit mentioned that during this crisis, megastars like Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, and Karan Johar continued to pay the full amount, despite no services being provided.
Ronit’s security agency began with Aamir Khan during the Lagaan days in the early 2000s. Today, the actor says, it looks after “almost everyone” in the film industry.
But the pandemic was expectedly harsh on Ronit’s company, which he said went “through a down.” The actor told Lehren Retro, “The few months before that, I hadn’t done much work. I had 130 people on my roster, and they also had their families. We decided to pay everybody’s salary. But there’s only this much salary that you can pay, and I realised there were a lot of useless things lying at home.
“There were cars that I was not using, I had a Mini Cooper which I would never drive so we let that go. There were also other luxury items that we sold (to pay for the staff). I didn’t do anyone a favour, it was my responsibility.”
When asked if there were celebrities who dropped off from his list during the pandemic, Ronit said, “Everybody stayed, special mentions to Akshay Kumar, Karan, Amitabh Bachchan sir, that they not only stayed but without services, they paid. A lot of relief came from them. Out of 130, they took care of 30, which was a big relief.”
During the interview, Ronit also opened up about being there for Aamir and Karan during the time they lost their fathers. “I used to be with Aamir, I was on Lagaan to provide him security. We were friends also, I know how fond that man is of me. Karan is very dear to me, but he will never be as much dear to me as his father (Yash Johar) was.
“I remember those days when his sets used to get constructed at Film city… He was such a lovely man. In my initial days, I received a lot of warmth from Rishi Kapoor ji, Randhir Kapoor ji, Yash Johar.. there are the people who welcomed me,” he added.
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