Hyderabad: The new wave of celebrity protection is quietly stepping into the spotlight, and this time the guards are becoming almost as talked about as the stars they protect. The concept of celebrity bodyguards in India began gaining visibility with Shera, Salman Khan’s long-time and iconic bodyguard, who often made headlines with his towering presence and larger-than-life personality.
He has been serving as Salman’s dedicated personal bodyguard since 1995 and is a constant presence alongside the actor. Gurmeet Singh Jolly which is his original name continues to shield Salman and also runs Tiger security agency which continues to look after Bhaijaan’s security especially after the Bishnoi threats.
Ravi Singh -Shah Rukh Khan’s personal guard also made it the headlines ,as the highest-paid in Bollywood. Ravi who has been working for SRK for over a decade, is apparently paid Rs. 2.7 crore annually.
Down South another bodyguard Nayeem Moosa, has been faithfully guarding Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay for almost four years. He came into the limelight during Vijay’s campaign trips after the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) party launch, travelling along ensuring Vijay’s safety from the mammoth crowds who would come to see their Thalapathy… and who eventually became their Mudhalvar (Chief Minister), after his historic win in the recent Tamil Nadu elections in May.
A Keralite Nayeem settled in Dubai and runs his own security agency was seen with the TVK leader in all of his political tours and rarely leaves his side even after he became Chief Minister. Nayeem runs his own security agency headquartered in Dubai, and has been in this business for the past 22 years, operating in various Middle Eastern countries and India. He has become a trusted aide of Vijay for all his events and meetings and continues do so even after Vijay became the Chief Minister. This has raised eyebrows from the opposition parties questioning Nayeem’s presence in officials trips as exceeding security protocols, even though Vijay has the highest levels of VIP protection given to a Chief Minister, which is the Z+ category security.
Image Source: Kevin Kunta Instagram
One of the newest names in celebrity body guards who is currently making headlines is Kevin Kunta. Ram Charan’s specially appointed bodyguard. The former reportedly charges anywhere between two to four lakh rupees per day has become quite a crowd puller apart from Ram Charan. The former mixed martial arts fighter from Gambia, Africa, recently caught massive online attention after a dramatic moment at Ram Charan’s Peddi promotional event in Vijayawada. A Ram Charan-lookalike fan suddenly breached security and rushed toward the actor on stage leaving everyone shocked. In a split-second reaction Kevin Kunta intervened and physically lifted the fan away effortlessly even as other security guards were seen running along with him.
The clip of Kevin putting down the poor fan quickly went viral on social media leading to everyone searching for who Kevin Kunta was and stumbling on to his Instagram page which showed a completely different side to his role of a bodyguard.
As per his IG profile Kevin Kunta lives in Florence, Italy and who is a trained International MMA fighter and also an international model for several Italian brands. His workout videos explain his physical strength he displayed during the fan episode. Originally working behind the scenes as part of Ram Charan and his family’s security for the past four years, which Ram Charan had revealed in an interview, Kevin has now gone viral in the Telugu states.
There are also videos of him sharing his moments with fans and promoting Peddi movie through his instagram page. Now Kevin has become a social media talking point among not just Ram Charan’s fans, but others as well. His popularity has increased and so has his online subscriber base such is his popularity. He also shared a video of fans calling out to him during an event and Kevin was seen stepping close and taking selfies with them. His meme clips are currently spreading widely across platforms and drawing attention to his role and he also seems to be enjoying the fame and recognition, which he is acknowledging while being part of the film promotions.
The bodyguard culture in Indian cinema has clearly evolved and the profession itself is becoming part of the celebrity narrative.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.deccanchronicle.com ’
