More than two decades after a high-profile altercation, Rahul Bhatt, brother of actress Pooja Bhatt and son of filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt, has expressed regret over his actions against actor Ranvir Shorey. In a recent interview with Siddharth Kannan, Rahul admitted he overreacted during a 2002 incident linked to his sister’s then-relationship with Shorey.
Pooja Bhatt and Ranvir Shorey were in a live-in relationship in the early 2000s that ended amid public controversy. Pooja had accused Shorey of physically assaulting her during an argument. Rahul said he stepped in after learning of the altercation. “There was an altercation between Ranvir Shorey and Pooja Bhatt. They had an argument, after which Ranvir hit her or something like that. I had to step in and when I did, my response was a bit exaggerated. I broke his car’s glass. I broke one of his ribs,” he recalled.
Rahul was arrested and charged in connection with the assault. Looking back, he acknowledged his mistake. “I did a wrong thing by taking the law into my own hands. Subsequently, I paid the price for it. I was arrested. Charged. I regret it. I shouldn’t have overreacted.”
He specifically praised Shorey’s response to the legal case. “He was very decent. In the compounding of the offence, he came forward and said, ‘Let bygones be bygones.’ Nobody does something like that. People usually use such situations to extract money, but he didn’t. He came and compounded the case, and the FIR was quashed. Until then, I had a criminal case pending. He was very decent in that. I respect him for that. Nobody else would have done it without a grudge.”
The comments mark a shift from earlier statements in which Rahul had said he would react the same way again if anyone harmed his sister. The 2002 episode had been one of Bollywood’s more talked-about personal scandals at the time. Shorey had previously described the assault differently, claiming Rahul attacked him with an iron rod near his car.
Rahul’s latest remarks bring a note of reflection and respect to a long-buried chapter involving two well-known industry families.
ALSO READ: Urvashi Rautela Demands ₹7,000 Crore From LA AI Firm Over Unauthorized Use Of Her Image