Someone to watch over me
Rishi Majumder finds out what lies beneath the armour of body-guarding services
Rishi Majumder
While filming the finale of Lagaan in Bhuj, more than 10,000 villagers, who were being used as extras, wished to get up close and personal with the film's lead actor, Aamir Khan. Six guards from Ace Security And Protection, armed with only sticks, managed the mob-like situation. In a separate incident, when Hrithik Roshan emerged from an event in the city, fans threatened to mob the star, when Topsgrup body guards formed a human chain to escort the star into a vehicle and calmed the crowd by continually interacting with them.
Bollywood actors, such as the Bachchans, Kareena Kapoor, Mallika Sherawat, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and many others operate under strict security cover.
"Security is the second largest business in the West, and I see India going that way too," says TV actor Ronit Roy who, after working with his friend Vikas Verma, the head of Property Guards, formed his own outfit Ace Security And Protection. Roy's company is famous for its body-guarding services, its client list boasting many illustrious Bollywood names such as Aamir Khan, Celina Jaitley, Preity Zinta and Hrithik Roshan.
"Around two years ago our company's annual turnover from executive protection was 25 lakh. We had around 130 clients then," says Deepak Monga, brand manager for Topsgrup Total Security Solutions. The figure has now touched 63 lakh, with around 250 subscribers, for only body guarding. S N Rai, CEO of Globe Detective Agency Private Ltd. continues in a similar vein. He says, "A couple of years back our earnings from bodyguarding was between 10 to 12 lakh. This has shot up to between 15 to 16 lakh today," says Rai. Even Shera, known filmstar Salman Khan's man-in-arms, owns a security outfit, Tiger Security Services Ltd., through which he supplies bodyguards to other stars as well, though he reiterates, "Salman Khan is and will be our permanent client. We will provide security coverage for him wherever he is in the world."
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