Actor Celina Jaitly recently revealed that she has been trying really hard to bring her brother, Ex-Major Vikrant Kumar Jaitly, back from detention in the United Arab Emirates. Celina disclosed that her brother, an erstwhile Special Forces officer cum UN peacekeeper, has been placed under an 'arbitrary detention' scenario in the UAE since September 2024. UAE law enforcement picked him up from a shopping mall at the time, and for about nine months, Celina and her family did not know what happened to him because his arrest was not formally recorded. "I got to know around September 29. The call came at around nine at night," the actor told PTI. “I was living in Austria then. At first, I thought my brother was playing a prank. For an hour, I dismissed it as one of his stupid jokes.”
Celina said that she left Austria for India while going through a bad marital situation after learning about her brother's situation. "Knowing that if I don’t leave Austria, I won’t be able to stand up for my brother. At one o’clock in the night, with hardly any money, a ticket bought on a credit card, I left Austria and came to India," the actor revealed. However, she also said that none of her family members and friends volunteered to help her and that it was strangers who came forward with help in the hour of crisis.
Celina Jaitly also faced multiple legal hassles after her return to India, some personal and others in her bid to locate the whereabouts of her brother. Unfortunately, the actor still does not know why he is in detention. She has been told that it has to do with a matter of 'National Interest'.
A Femina Miss India titleholder and a Miss Universe winner from 2001, Celina left acting to focus on her marital life. She is known for her roles in films such as Apna Sapna Money Money, No Entry, Zinda, Golmaal Returns, and Thank You, as well as the short Seasons Greeting.
Celina's fight for her brother's freedom has drawn comparisons with Jigra, where Alia Bhatt's character visits a fictional nation to bring her brother (Vedang Raina) back. While Alia's character heroically succeeds in her mission, Celina's struggle shows the chasm between reel life and real life.