Director Sanjay Gupta, of 'Kaante' and 'Kaabil,' Dies at 59

Indian filmmaker Sanjay Gupta, director of the crime thriller "Kaante," the gangster saga "Shootout at Wadala" and Hrithik Roshan's "Kaabil," has died at 59 after a fall at his Mumbai residence on Oct. 30, according to the Press Trust of India.

Director Milap Zaveri, a longtime friend who worked on the dialogue for "Kaante," confirmed the death to PTI. "It is true that he passed away. He fell and hit his head," Zaveri said.

Police in Mumbai's Versova neighborhood have filed an accidental death report. Deputy Commissioner of Police Purushottam Karad told the Free Press Journal that Gupta's family members were sleeping when the incident occurred and discovered it the following morning. "The family has not raised any suspicion or lodged a complaint," Karad said.

What did Gupta bring to Hindi cinema?

Gupta was a prominent exponent of the glossy, action-driven Hindi-language crime thriller. He brought a visual sensibility heavily indebted to Hollywood to an industry traditionally dominated by melodrama and musicals.

His career behind the camera began with "Aatish: Feel the Fire" in 1994, featuring Sanjay Dutt and Aditya Pancholi. He went on to direct "Ram Shastra," "Jung" and "Khauff," building an enduring professional relationship with Dutt that extended across 10 films, including projects Gupta produced.

His breakthrough came with "Kaante" in 2002. Gupta assembled Amitabh Bachchan, Dutt, Suniel Shetty, Mahesh Manjrekar, Lucky Ali and Kumar Gaurav for a Los Angeles-set heist thriller about criminals planning a bank robbery. The production was filming in the city when the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 forced changes to its location schedule, as Gupta recounted in a 2002 Rediff interview. He received a Filmfare nomination for best director.

How did the controversy over influence shape his career?

The film's similarities to Quentin Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs" drew considerable attention, although Tarantino expressed admiration for "Kaante" in a 2007 interview covered by the Times of India.

Gupta made little secret of his borrowings. Responding to accusations of plagiarism in his 2002 Rediff interview, he said he would "beg, borrow and steal from any medium" in pursuit of a compelling story.

Several films reflected that philosophy:

• "Musafir" (2004) bore similarities to Oliver Stone's "U Turn."
• "Zinda" (2006), with Dutt and John Abraham, drew controversy for its resemblance to Park Chan-wook's "Oldboy." The Korean production company Show East told Star News in November 2005 it was considering legal remedies should the finished film prove substantially similar.
• "Jazbaa" (2015) adapted the Korean thriller "Seven Days" and brought Aishwarya Rai Bachchan back to the screen.

As a producer through White Feather Films, Gupta backed "Shootout at Lokhandwala" (2007), "Acid Factory," "Pankh" and the anthology "Dus Kahaniyaan," which he also directed. He returned to the gangster genre with "Shootout at Wadala" (2013), a prequel drawing on S. Hussain Zaidi's nonfiction book "Dongri to Dubai." With "Kaabil" in 2017, he directed Roshan as a visually impaired man pursuing vengeance, in a film produced by Rakesh Roshan. His later work included "Mumbai Saga" (2021), a T-Series co-production whose theatrical run was hit by a renewed surge in COVID-19 infections. He also produced "Visfot" (2024), a Hindi adaptation of the Venezuelan thriller "Rock, Paper, Scissors."

How did colleagues remember him?

"Raees" director Rahul Dholakia described him on X as a stylish filmmaker and "maybe the first to present trailers and cut promos to pitch the film idea to actors and distributors."

Director Kunal Kohli, whose films include "Fanaa," recalled a conversation with Gupta only weeks before his death. "You had many more films and many years to go," Kohli wrote.

Dutt posted: "Gupts, my brother. I still cannot believe that you are gone. We have shared so much together, so many memories and so many years of friendship. You have always been family to me, and that will never change. I will miss you, our conversations and all the times we spent together."

Oscar-winning "Slumdog Millionaire" sound designer Resul Pookutty wrote: "What a terrible and shocking news for me personally and our friends and family. 25 Years of working together. I'm not able to process this… we will miss you, one of the sanest voices from mainstream Hindi cinema… May your soul rest in eternal peace."

What was left unfinished?

Gupta had begun discussing a return to his best-known property. After the resolution of a dispute involving White Feather Films and Pritish Nandy Communications over "Kaante," he revealed on the "InControversial" podcast earlier this year that he had developed the foundations of a sequel. He said the story for "Kaante 2" had been worked out "at a very base level" and that he intended to begin writing the screenplay. That project now passes to the industry he shaped.

Gupta is survived by his wife and two children.