Rahul Bhatt (born 24 January 1982) is an Indian fitness trainer and actor.
The son of film director
Mahesh Bhatt
Mahesh Bhatt (born 20 September 1948) is an Indian film director, producer and screenwriter known for his works in Hindi cinema. A stand-out film from his earlier period is ''Saaransh'' (1984), screened at the 14th Moscow International Film F ...
and Kiran Bhatt, Rahul gained notoriety in 2009 following revelations that
David Headley
David Coleman Headley (born Daood Sayed Gilani; June 30, 1960) is an American terrorist. He is currently serving a 35-year sentence in the United States after pleading guilty to 12 international terrorism charges.
It has been alleged that Headl ...
, an accused in the
2008 Mumbai attacks
The 2008 Mumbai attacks (also referred to as 26/11, pronounced "twenty six eleven") were a series of Terrorism, terrorist attacks that took place in November 2008, when 10 members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, an Islamist terrorist organisation from P ...
, had befriended him and they were close friends.
[Rahul Bhatt said, "One incident when we were going to South Mumbai that he mentioned to us there was a bombing in Islamabad, at the Marriott in Islamabad, and I remember him very clearly telling me "you know guys you are going to see things like that happening now in this country.""
] In an investigative report by
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
, Rahul Bhatt was described as a
B-movie
A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double featur ...
actor asking for favours to reveal more details about Headley.
[ The segment about Rahul Bhatt starts at 30:30 of the video report] He was a contestant on
Bigg Boss 4 in 2010.
Biography
Rahul is the only son of Mahesh Bhatt and Kiran Bhatt (born Loraine Bright). On his father's side, Bhatt is of predominantly
Gujarati
Gujarati may refer to:
* something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India
* Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat
* Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them
* Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub ...
descent and on his mother's side, he is of
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
,
Scottish,
Armenian
Armenian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent
** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...
, and
Burmese ancestry and Rahul is the younger brother of actress
Pooja Bhatt
Pooja Bhatt (born 24 February 1972) is an Indian film director, actress, voice over artist and film maker. Born into the Bhatt family, she is the daughter of Indian filmmaker, Mahesh Bhatt. Bhatt played her first leading role in Mahesh Bhatt's ...
. Rahul weighed 122 kilograms before he began working out. He thanks his fitness mentor Kaizzad Capadia. Rahul's father planned to launch him in 2007 with the film ''Suicide Bomber'' to be directed by
Anurag Basu
Anurag Basu (born 8 May 1974) is an Indian director, screenwriter, actor and producer. He began his directing career in television, moving to feature films in 2002. Basu achieved initial success with his films tackling the themes of passion and ...
.
In September 2010, Rahul became part of the Indian television reality show, ''
Bigg Boss 4'', hosted by
Salman Khan
Abdul Rashid Salim Salman Khan (; 27 December 1965) is an Indian actor, film producer, and television personality who works in Hindi films. In a film career spanning over thirty years, Khan has received numerous awards, including two Nation ...
. After being evicted from the house, he claimed that the show was scripted.
Association with David Headley
In September 2008, Rahul Bhatt and friend Vilas Varak met
David Headley
David Coleman Headley (born Daood Sayed Gilani; June 30, 1960) is an American terrorist. He is currently serving a 35-year sentence in the United States after pleading guilty to 12 international terrorism charges.
It has been alleged that Headl ...
at a Mumbai gym. Even after the
26/11 attacks, they were continuously in touch, with Headley writing to Rahul an email in which he said he would soon be visiting them again.
According to Headley's testimony, he was fond of Bhatt. He claims to have warned Bhatt not to visit South Mumbai area on 26 November, the day the Mumbai attacks started.
Television
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bhatt, Rahul
Living people
Exercise instructors
Male actors from Mumbai
Rahul
Rahul is a popular male name in India and has a variety of meanings. The earliest meaning found in the Upanishads is "conqueror of all miseries." Later use of the word is attributed to the Buddha, who named his son '' Rahula'' as he felt that fa ...
Bigg Boss (Hindi TV series) contestants
Gujarati people
Indian people of Armenian descent
Indian people of Burmese descent
Indian people of English descent
Indian people of Scottish descent
1982 births