Filmmaker Anuj Gulati’s WingMan has begun its festival run with screenings at London Indian Film Festival and River to River Florence Indian Film Festival. While Shashank Arora fronts the quirky comedy that follows a call centre employee whose life spirals out of control after his girlfriend leaves him, it marks the last work of late Nitesh Pandey, who passed away of a heart attack in May 2023.

“I truly enjoyed working with Nitesh. He embraced the ambiguity of his character. On set, he was warm and approachable, even spending some time writing his own script between set-ups, which speaks about his dedication to his work,” says the director, remembering the actor, who starred in the popular television show, Anupamaa, and several films, including Khosla Ka Ghosla (2006) and Om Shanti Om (2007).

In WingMan, Pandey played the role of the protagonist’s older colleague. However, Gulati says in the final edit, he had to do away with the late actor’s portions. The director explains, “In the final round of editing, we had to make the difficult decision to remove the subplot about his character. We have retained his credit, as he was an integral part of the creative process. Nitesh’s character had his own arc, rekindling a connection with a high-school crush. In many ways, his journey paralleled the protagonist’s. Ultimately, we had to remove it as it repeated a thematic beat.”

The director is now set to take WingMan at some more international film festivals. “We did a festival run with the film’s longer cut. Over time, the movie found its right length,” adds Gulati.

Actor Sudhanshu Pandey is at a loss for words after the death of his friend and co-actor Nitesh Pandey. He adds that the actor, who died due to cardiac arrest on Tuesday (May 23), was excited about the work that was coming his way.

“The news has come as a shock to me. It makes me think that somebody who was with us sometime ago, sitting and talking about work on TV and OTT, is no more. He was happy with the way work was picking up for him. He was doing three-four web series, and also had an OTT film in his kitty,” says Sudhanshu.

It was while working on the TV show Anupamaa that the 48-year-old formed a bond with Nitesh. “Whenever he was on the set, he would come to my room and we would talk endlessly. It was one Pandey meeting another Pandey. Since both of us are from Uttarakhand, we had a lot in common. We would talk about OTT and TV, and how the mediums worked well for him,” recalls the actor.

My association with Nitesh [Pandey] began 26 years ago. Though we were not continuously in touch, we had a great bond. [He was] somebody I could always pick up from where we left. I had met Nitesh through some common friends at a time when I was struggling as a director, and he was trying to get into acting. We were very young — almost 25 or 26 at that time. He had come home for dinner, and we instantly hit it off. I found him to be nice, down-to-earth, full of positivity, and easy to connect with.

In 2011, when I was producing the show, Kuch Toh Log Kahenge, which had Mohnish Behl and Kritika Kamra, I remember calling and telling him about a role that was tailor-made for him. The character was full of life, humble, and always smiling. We had a great time working together on the show.

Over the years, we got busy with our commitments. Recently, I called him again for the role of Dheeraj Kapoor in Anupamaa. I told him that he had to do it. Although he was busy, he agreed to do the cameo. On the first day of his shoot, I went specially to meet him; Rupali [Ganguly] and Gaurav [Khanna] were also there. We met, joked around, and spoke about our lives. He was in a good space [with respect to his career]. Our personalities are quite similar. Later, he messaged me, saying, “Whenever I have dates, I want you to include me in Anupamaa.” And that is exactly what we did.

He is one of the most professional senior actors who didn’t come with the baggage of being a star. I would often tell the youngsters on the set to [emulate] him. Despite spending years in the industry, he was so positive and was always nice to the unit. I told my directors, “When he comes on set, see how he’ll improvise and take the scene to a different level.”

His [performance] stood out because he was not in the rat race. He had his own USP as an actor. He [belonged to] the old school of professionalism. He [believed] in working hard on a character. Nitesh would never pick a role for the sake of doing it. Despite all these years, his hunger for roles, humility, and positive attitude remained consistent. The unit looked forward to working with him.

On May 7, Nitesh sent me a painting of a beautiful landscape, which is something he had never done before. That was my last interaction with him. His passing is a loss to the industry, and I will always remember his laughs.

Mourning the untimely death of her close friend and colleague Nitesh Pandey, Rupali Ganguly said, “He was the only industry friend who stayed constantly in touch with me during my sabbatical, apart from Delnaaz [Irani] and the cast of Sarabhai. He had come to meet me after Rudransh was born. His son, Aarav, is just a few months older than Rudransh. In fact, we had made plans to make our sons meet. We would bond over dogs [as] his wife Arpita is an animal care giver like me. He was so fiercely protective about me. When he came [on the set of] Anupamaa, it felt as if [I had my] bestie next to me at my work place.”

Mumbai: India’s television industry suffered a third successive blow this week with the death of actor-scriptwriter Nitesh Pandey past Tuesday midnight. On Monday, actor Aditya Singh Rajput collapsed and died in his Andheri apartment, while actress Vaibhavi Upadhyaya lost her life after her car fell into a ravine in Himachal Pradesh.

Pandey, best known for his performances in television serial ‘Anupamaa’ and the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer ‘Om Shanti Om’, suffered a fatal heart attack in a resort in Igatpuri, 50km from Nashik city, which was his favourite retreat. Pandey, who lived in Powai with actress-wife Arpita and son Aarav, was 51.

Investigating officer Nilesh Deoraj of Igatpuri police told TOI, “Pandey would often visit this retreat to pursue his passion for writing. He arrived here on Tuesday and around 10:30pm, the room service attendant brought him dinner. But nobody answered the door. The boy arrived again an hour later and when there was still no response, the staffers opened the door with a master key. They found Pandey lying still on the sofa. Then they rang us, and we arrived promptly to rush him to hospital. But he was declared dead on arrival. The postmortem report stated the cause of death as heart attack. Pandey’s remains were handed to his relatives who left for Mumbai.” The last rites were performed on Wednesday.

Kritika Kamra, Gulshan Devaiah, Deven Bhojani, Hansal Mehta, Manoj Bajpayee, Khushwant Walia, Rajkummar Rao and Nakuul Mehta offered tributes to Pandey on social media. ‘Anupamaa’ co-actor Rupali Ganguly tweeted, “I am numb. Can’t believe it.”

In a media interview she said Pandey was a dear friend, and that they had imminent plans to meet up with their sons who are of similar age.

Pandey had a special flair for comedy and used his wide-eyed, baby-faced look to advantage through an illustrious career of 25 years in theatre, television and cinema. He featured in popular TV serials like ‘Anupamaa’, ‘Star Bestsellers’, ‘Tejas’, ‘Manzilein Apni Apni’, ‘Saaya’, ‘Astitva — Ek Prem Kahani’, ‘Justujoo’ and ‘Durgesh Nandini’. Among his memorable films are ‘Om Shanti Om’, ‘Khosla Ka Ghosla’ and ‘Dabangg 2’.

He was a writer of merit, a keen chef and had also founded a production house. He was earlier married to actress Ashwini Kalsekar, but they divorced.