At the press conference, Raj said that UT 69 is about his 63 days in the jail. It narrates the story from the day he entered that red gate to the day he came out.He mentioned that if he and his wifeShilpa Shetty believed that if there was even an ounce of truth in the allegations and if he was guilty, then he would have his head hanging in shame. But he came out like a lion because he knew that he had done nothing wrong. He also added that the matter is subjudice and they have full faith in the judiciary.
Sharing his experience in jail, Raj said that the the CBFC (Central Board of Film Certification) asked a lot of supporting evidence since the movie is based on true events in his life. He stated that many people who were inside the jail, gave their testaments. He also mentioned that Human Rights have seen what the situation is like inside the jail.
Raj then revealed that the reason to tell this story is because jails are not like how we think they are, or are in the US or shown in Hollywood. “We have shown the jail as a dark grungy place, honestly it is a horrible place, but it was what it was, I laughed and cut time there. There are real people inside, Arthur Road is not a jail, it is like a detention centre where you are sent just so that no one can tamper with witness statements and police can carry out their questioning. You come out of there and then face your trial,” he said.
The businessman also shared that during his time in jail, he made friends with a couple of inmates who he thought were decent. He then revealed that the man who was sleeping to his right was accused of 88 murders and the one sleeping to his left was accused of child rape.
He said that there were quite creepy people around him but he was given a couple of jawabdars (influential inmates appointed by the jail authorities to take care of the barrack) who would keep an eye on him. He was told not to talk to anyone and nobody will talk to him. Initially, he felt he would out in a week or so, so it wouldn’t be a big deal but he had not imagined that he would end up being there for 63 days.
Raj also shared that he met Ajaz Khan in jail, who was embroiled in a drugs case. “Ajaz was in the barrack opposite to me. We used to share biscuits and water, we used to help each other a lot, he was very sweet. I didn’t meet anyone else after that,” he said.
UT 69 is written and directed by Shahnawaz Ali. The movie is scheduled to release in theatres on November 3.
Raj Kundra was arrested in July 2021 in connection with a case related to the production and distribution of pornographic content. The case came to light when the Mumbai Police Crime Branch conducted a raid and arrested a few individuals associated with Kundra’s company, HotShots, which was accused of producing and distributing explicit adult content.
Raj Kundra removes mask, gets emotional at ‘UT69’ trailer launch event: ‘Biwi baccho pe matt jao’
