Did you know that `macho` man Sunil Shetty has a soft, vulnerable side too? A father of two kids, Shetty can unabashedly shed tears if anything slightly unpleasant were to happen to his children. And that too in public.. The residents of Prithvi Apartments, where he lives in a swank apartment, vouch for this actor`s "child like quality" when it comes to interacting with kids.

But theatre personality Aamir Hussain Reza would probably remember Shetty for life. At a special stage show of Kargil - the Forty Day War in Mumbai for a select group of invitees, Sunil, nattily dressed in a black and white Armani ensemble, sat with his face covered with his hairy hands and sobbing. "He hollered like a baby" said socialite novelist Sobha De and her friends sitting close by. Even co-star Shilpa Shetty recalls how every time she had to enact a difficult scene in Dhadkan, in which the two played lovers, Sunil would personally guide and "perform an emotionally charged scene," for her benefit. It was another invitee, Bindiya Goswami Dutta, director J P Dutta`s wife, an ardent Shetty admirer, who coaxed J P to start scripting his mammoth production LoC with the Mangalorean actor in mind. Now even Virat, Aamir `s wife, wants him to play an important character in the film.

Why is it that it is the wife who always falls for Shetty? It couldn`t be for his emotive strength — is it then the sinewy tough looks that go with it?