Ronit Roy opens up on how he kept his security agency afloat during lockdown, with help from Karan, Amitabh, Akshay

Ronit Roy spoke about how he managed to keep his security agency afloat during the lockdown, and how his Bollywood clients Akshay Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan and Karan Johar didn't leave him in the lurch.

Actor Ronit Roy has said that he sold everything he had to support the families of his employees during the pandemic-induced lockdown. Previously, he had said that despite a lockdown being enforced, people such as Akshay Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan and Karan Johar didn't stall payments to his security agency.

Actor Ronit Roy said that only a handful of his Bollywood clients stood by his security agency during the lockdown.

In an interview, Ronit said that ups-and-downs are a part of life, and one shouldn't ‘get married to’ property and money. And because of this philosophy, he decided that he'd support his employees despite having no income from his firm.

Asked how his Bollywood clients helped his agency stay afloat, he told Bollywood Bubble, “I am a spendthrift. I try very hard, but I can't save money. So I forcibly put myself in SIPs – in equity, etc. And I had put that on auto-debit, so every month, a certain amount would automatically leave my account. I was doing it for quite a number of years, and when this time came, it was a matter of… The company didn't have any money, because everything suddenly shut down. So all the people who owed me money for services rendered, they said let's wait for things to open up and we'll pay you.”

He added, “I have an internal staff of over 100 people, and some of them had just had kids, some had pregnant wives, others' mothers were unwell, their fathers were in the hospital. What to do now? It's bad for everybody, and it's nobody's fault. So I said the only person who can do anything in this situation is me. I was a simple formula; if we don't do anything now, then when will we do it?”

Ronit said that he went by the teachings of his ‘guruji’ and ‘decided that no matter how long it’ll last, we'll support the families.' He said that they ‘sold everything’ and is now on the path to rebuilding what he once had.

Previously, he had told RJ Siddharth Kannan in an interview that he wasn't left in the lurch by a handful of his Bollywood clients. “So, Mr Bachchan, Akshay Kumar and Karan Johar. They never even called me. Actually, I was in doubt that all of this is shut, all the boys are at home. Their office called me that we have done the transfer, but send us the bills when things open again. I didn't ask them to do it, but they did it.”

In another interview, on being asked if any of the clients he lost wanted to work with him once things opened up again, Ronit told a leading daily, “Those clients cannot be short on money. A few of them decided to approach and come back to me but I refused to work with them.”