Mumbai Famous Bollywood film director Sanjay Gupta has passed away. He breathed his last at the age of 57. Sanjay Gupta celebrated his 57th birthday on 23 October. According to reports, he suffered a serious head injury after falling in the kitchen of his Mumbai home on October 30. This information came to light on Friday morning.
Filmmaker and his close friend Ashok Pandit confirmed Sanjay Gupta's death through a social media post. He said that the director died due to head injury due to a fall at home. Information related to his funeral will be shared later. Sanjay's close friend Hanif Chunawala also confirmed his demise while talking to ANI.
Daler Mehndi was defended in his last social media post.
Sanjay Gupta was very active on social media. In his last post, he had expressed his displeasure over the alleged insult to singer Daler Mehndi on stage. He had raised his voice in respect for Daler Mehndi, calling him his elder brother and said that an unconditional apology should be made for the behavior meted out to him.
Mika Singh said- He was no less than a godfather for me.
Singer Mika Singh also became emotional with the news of Sanjay Gupta's demise. While sharing a picture with the director, he called him his elder brother. Mika said that Sanjay Gupta was like a godfather to him and it was he who gave him his first chance in Bollywood. He expressed his gratitude to Sanjay for his love, guidance and always support.
Hansal Mehta called his 'boss' and dear friend
Filmmaker Hansal Mehta also made an emotional post remembering Sanjay Gupta. He said that perhaps Sanjay was the only person in the film industry whom he considered his boss, but more than that he was his close friend.
Hansal Mehta told that both of them saw many good and bad phases of life together. He also recalled that his first and only Rolex watch was given to him by Sanjay Gupta. Now that same watch has become the last symbol of Sanjay for them.
Anil Sharma and Ashok Pandit expressed grief
'Gadar' director Anil Sharma also expressed grief over the demise of Sanjay Gupta. He said that this news is difficult to believe and expressed condolences to the family.
At the same time, Ashok Pandit described him as a brilliant storyteller and a person passionate about film making. He said that the film industry lost a talented person very early.
Made a distinct identity with crime and gangster films
Sanjay Gupta made his special mark in Bollywood through films based on crime, action, gangster drama and underworld stories. His famous films include 'Kaante', 'Kaabil', 'Zinda', 'Shootout at Lokhandwala' and 'Mumbai Saga'.
Big stars like Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Hrithik Roshan and John Abraham were seen in his films.
A terrible car accident happened after 'Kante'
Sanjay Gupta's film 'Kaante' was released on 20 December 2002 and was successful. About a week after the release of the film, on December 27, he met with a serious car accident while returning from Khandala. After being admitted to the hospital, doctors had described his next 72 hours as very important.
At that time Sanjay Gupta was only 35 years old. He had to stay in the hospital for about five weeks. In June this year, he had remembered that accident through a social media post.
Received threat from underworld, Sanjay Dutt helped
Some time ago, in an interview given to Hussain Zaidi, Sanjay Gupta had shared an anecdote from the initial phase of his career. He had told that during the year 1992-93, he had received threats from the underworld. At that time he was making his first film as a director, 'Aatish: Feel the Fire'.
According to Gupta, he had received a call in which the caller introduced himself as 'Nana'. Later they came to know that the call was from Chhota Rajan. After this he sought help from Sanjay Dutt. Sanjay Dutt sent his father Sunil Dutt's official vehicle to his house, through which he left from there through the back route.
Worked in nine films with Sanjay Dutt
The pair of Sanjay Gupta and Sanjay Dutt worked together in many popular films. The duo's first film was 'Aatish: Feel the Fire' (1994), which was also the directorial debut of Sanjay Gupta. After this, both of them worked together in films like 'Khauff', 'Jung', 'Kaante', 'Musafir' and 'Zinda'.
Apart from this, Gupta also worked with Sanjay Dutt as a producer and writer in 'Plan', 'Shootout at Lokhandwala' and 'Dus Kahaniyaan'.
There was no talk for four years after the dispute
Sanjay Gupta and Sanjay Dutt together also formed a production company named White Feather Films. In 2007, during the 'Shootout at Lokhandwala', there was a dispute between the two regarding the payment of technicians and their personal and professional partnership ended.
Sanjay Gupta had told in an interview in 2024 that there was actually no major misunderstanding between the two, but the distance had increased due to the people around them. After this dispute, he did not get work for about three years. He even thought of leaving the film industry and taking over the hotel business in Khandala.
Both of them did not talk to each other for about four years. Finally, on 11 October 2012, both of them met at Amitabh Bachchan's 70th birthday party. Sanjay Gupta was talking to John Abraham at that time, when Sanjay Dutt called him. Both of them ended their old grudges by hugging.
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