While Salman Khan’s personal and professional life has seen its share of ups and downs, there has been one constant: his bodyguard Shera. In 2012, Salman was even inspired to make a movie based on Shera’s presence in his life, titled Bodyguard. In interviews over the years, Shera has spoken about his dedication to Salman, and has vowed to serve him till his dying day. Shera has also spoken about the difficulties that Salman has experienced in the years that that he’s worked under him. Shera was born in Mumbai’s Andheri to a Punjabi Sikh family, and his real name is Gurmeet Singh Jolly. He dropped out of school in the 11th standard, because he was obsessed with bodybuilding. He won the junior Mr Mumbai 1987 and came second in the junior Mr Maharashtra in 1987-88.
Shera started working in the security business with Andre Timmins’ Wizcraft. “He was my neighbour, we grew up together, his brothers are close to me. He told me ‘Why don’t you do security?’ So, I started with Wizcraft,” Shera told Mint in a 2011 interview. Shera started working with Salman in 1997, after Sohail Khan hired him to run security for ‘Bhai’ in Indore. Before that, they’d met briefly when Shera was handling security for Hollywood star Keanu Reeves during an India visit. Shera told Mint, “I had just set up my own company—Tiger Security—and that year (1995) Sohailbhai (Khan’s brother) called me because he wanted someone to go with Salman for shows and all. Sohailbhai was impressed with me, seeing my the way I talk and all. He asked me: ‘Eh yaar, bhai ke saath tu rahega kya? Rahega na? (Will you stay with bhai? You’ll stay, won’t you?)’.” The deal was sealed. “That time I used to wear a turban. I am a Sikh. Because of my job I had to leave the turban. It was not possible to keep because of the crowds. So I had to cut my hair. I started wearing a cap. We went for a show and gelled well.”
Also read – Meet Salman Khan’s bodyguard Shera: The man who calls Salman maalik
At the trailer launch event for Bodyguard, Shera said, “I am ready to take a bullet for him. But Bhai is the real-life bodyguard; if push comes to shove, he can take 10 bullets for his family and friends.” At the same event, Salman expressed the trust he has in Shera. “I can trust him with everything. I can trust him with money, I can trust him with women, I can trust him with my family, I can trust him with my life. I can trust him before alcohol and after alcohol,” he said.
At the launch event, Salman recalled a story of a drunk Shera challenging everybody to a boxing match. “I remember one night, everybody had had a little too much to drink, and suddenly, they wanted to spar. I heard sounds of bodies hitting the floor, and saw my brother-in-law Atul Agnihotri’s mouth split open because Shera was in total form. He then called me over, and taunted me by saying, ‘No bodyguard around to protect you today’. I told him to chill, but he wouldn’t. So I wore the gloves, and saw Shera running towards me. I got a lucky shot in, and I knew that I couldn’t give him the chance to hit me back, so I kept punching him while he was down. Shera was so drunk, he started crying. He went into the kitchen, came out with a toothpick, and started slashing himself with it. ‘Maalik, I can do anything for you’, he said,” Salman recalled with a laugh.
Even on his first-ever assignment with Salman, Shera needed an extra boost to get through the day. He told Mint, “I was little tired. He gave me a pill. Bole, ‘Have this’. One dose of something he gave me. I had it. You can’t believe it: I ran 8 km in front of his car to clear the road (of fans). That was the job I did with Bhai.” Because of his long association with Salman, and his even longer stint as an entrepreneur, it has been reported that Shera’s net worth is Rs 100 crore. He recently purchased a Range Rover worth Rs 1.4 crore.
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At the Bodyguard launch, Salman asked Shera who the ‘woman’ he was guarding when they first met, and Shera replied with a glint in his eye, “Which one?” He knows everything about his ‘Maalik’, but Salman doesn’t have an issue with him talking to the media. “I never talked to the press actually. He told me, if you want you can talk. I said ‘No, no’. Now, you see, things are changed. I will never write the book Salmanbhai joked about, that if I write, he will be doomed. Don’t try to lead me there. It won’t work,” he told Mint.
