NEW DELHI: In the 2024 Bollywood thriller Jigra, Alia Bhatt plays a woman who risks everything to save her brother from a death sentence abroad.
For actor Celina Jaitly, that story has spilled from reel to reality.
Major (Retd) Vikrant Kumar Jaitly has been under “arbitrary detention” in the United Arab Emirates for the past 17 months, Jaitly said.
The retired Special Forces officer and former UN peacekeeper was picked up from a mall in September 2024.
For nearly nine months, his whereabouts remained unknown, with no formal arrest on record and no access to legal representation, she said.
“I got to know around 29 September. The call came at around nine at night,” Jaitly told PTI Videos. “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.”
Her fight for Vikrant unfolded amid personal turmoil. She was already trapped in what she described as a very bad marriage in Austria.
“I was in a very abusive and bad marriage. But when you have children, you do everything to make it work. When you don’t have parents, when you no longer have your assets, you do everything to keep your marriage going, specifically for your children,” said Celina.
For over 15 years, she stepped away from her career, entrusting her partner with finances and property, only to later lose access to both her assets and her three sons.
Jaitly, who won the title of Femina Miss India in 2001 and was fourth runner-up at Miss Universe the same year, had a successful career in films before she left it to settle into married life. She starred in box office hits such as No Entry, Apna Sapna Money Money, Golmaal Returns, Zinda, Thank You and the critically acclaimed short film Seasons Greeting.
Jaitly said that when news of her brother’s detention reached her, she was already at a breaking point. Standing up for him meant escaping her own circumstances.
“I took that decision in the middle of battle, without dragging my children into it. 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.”
What followed was another blow. Friends and relatives she turned to, she claimed, largely stayed away.
“Nobody really came forward to support. Many treated the issue as a ‘taboo’ and washed their hands of it. In my darkest hour, I realised I had neither friends nor family in my immediate circle… Instead, complete strangers came and stood by me like a rock.”
Returning to India brought little respite. Jaitly said she had to seek a court injunction just to enter her Mumbai home, alleging that her estranged husband was attempting to sell the property without her consent.
With diplomatic channels yielding no clarity on her brother, Jaitly approached the Delhi High Court, filing a writ of habeas corpus. Only after the petition did authorities disclose a prosecution number and confirm her brother’s location.
“We have only one prosecution number, and that too I received only after I put my writ petition before the Honourable Delhi High Court,” she said. “All I was told was a vague title of ‘National Security’. There is still very little clarity on why Vikrant was taken and why he is in detention.”
When asked about his work, Celina said he had joined his wife’s company. “After he retired from the army, he joined her in the Middle East. She had formed a company called the Matiti Group, which had various verticals from information technology to cyber security to risk management and HR services, and Vikrant joined her firm just like any other veteran,” Celina explained.
Through legal and grievance channels, it was confirmed in mid-2025 that Vikrant had been shifted to the Al Wathba detention centre in Abu Dhabi. The Delhi High Court has since passed an order allowing a UAE-based legal firm to represent him, a move Jaitly has described as a long-awaited breakthrough.
As she shared the update on social media, voices from the film industry also rallied behind her, including actor Preity Zinta, who publicly expressed support.
Calling herself a “fourth-generation armed forces daughter”, Jaitly said she has taken the matter to the highest levels of Indian leadership, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“My brother is an Indian soldier. He cannot be left in arbitrary detention,” she said.
For Jaitly, the fight is no longer cinematic. It is a test of endurance, faith, and a sister’s refusal to give up.