Top producer flies to Mumbai to meet the actor, who could play the lead in his next action film
Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 20, 2018)

Bollywood’s latest action hero Tiger Shroff is all set to take his rippling muscles and death-defying stunts to Hollywood. Mirror has learnt that the 28-year-old actor has caught the eye of a top Hollywood producer, Lawrence Kasanoff, who flew to Mumbai over the weekend for a final round of discussions with Tiger for his next big project. Tiger is also set to star in Siddharth Anand’s official Hindi remake of Sylvester Stallone’s Rambo.

According to a source close to the development, during the hush-hush trip, Tiger had several meetings with Kasanoff, producer of the Mortal Kombat series, at a suburban hotel.

“Along with Larry, a big studio head, some of their associates and Emmy Award-winning writer Sean Catherine Derek of the Batman series had also flown to India. Sanjay Grover, who has been a part of the project for the last one year, was also present at the meetings,” informed the source.

“Larry shared the script of his film with Sanjay who suggested they bring on board a fresh new face to play the lead and strongly recommended his childhood buddy Tiger with whom he had studied in school, to play the lead. Larry and his team were impressed with Tiger who they felt has an international look, is trained in martial arts, has a large fan following and has age on his side,” said the source.

Sanjay, who is Gulshan Grover’s son, has previously served as director, Special Projects at Hollywood Studio, Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM), for over a decade. He has been associated with films like The Hobbit, The Zookeeper, Fame, Creed and the James Bond franchise.

With the idea of making movies for the world market, the Hollywood team flew into India for the final round of discussions with him. “This could be the biggest break for an Indian actor in a big budget, mainstream Hollywood film which could spin into a worldwide Intellectual Property Franchise like Mortal Kombat. Casting an Indian actor in the main lead in a Hollywood film is a first for Larry too,” asserted the source, adding that Tiger could be fighting Jackie Chan, Chuck Norris and Bruce Lee’s daughter, Shannon Lee, in the film.

Kasanoff produces films, TV series and location-based entertainment based on some of the biggest brands, including Star Wars, Lego and Star Trek. As producer and studio head, he has over 250 films to his credit, including Dirty Dancing and the Oscar-winning movie, Platoon. He was the executive producer of James Cameron’s True Lies and Terminator 2: Judgement Day and has also been associated with another Academy Award-winner, Kathryn Bigelow, on her films Blue Steel and Strange Days. He has produced all Mortal Kombat media, including the two films, Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. In music, he has worked with several of the world’s biggest artistes, including Michael Jackson and the Rolling Stones.

Producer son Sanjay Grover got the actor the role of a single parent to two young girls in an international production
Natasha Coutinho (MUMBAI MIRROR; July 30, 2018)

Gulshan Grover’s son Sanjay, who has been a Hollywood studio producer and executive for many years, recently got his father a lead role in a Polish film. It required the veteran actor, who plays a single parent to two Polish girls, to portray a strong emotional bond with them on screen, and Sanjay felt only his father could do justice to the part.

“Sanjay, as people say, was born in Bollywood and raised in Hollywood. He’s now in India and Hollywood has found its own man here. Studio heads keep calling him for suggestions regarding finances and casting. Sanjay suggests Indian actors who he thinks could fit parts in Hollywood projects. Nine years ago, when it was practically unheard of, he used to screen Bollywood films at the MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) headquarters in Los Angeles,” Grover Sr. tells Mirror.

He adds that his son felt he was the best fit for the role in the Polish production as he has been a single father in real life too and his experience would come in handy on screen. “I’m very proud of my son, Sanjay has been helping Indian talents across the world and now he has helped his father bag an important role too,” Gulshan beams.

Gulshan recently started shooting for the project in Poland. They have completed a major portion of a 30-day schedule and plan to resume shoot soon. “There will be a lot of interesting information coming out shortly,” he signs off with a laugh.

Besides the Afshan Ashiq biopic, Sanjay Grover is also in talks for a big fat Indian wedding film; papa hopes to see him in front of the camera too
Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; July 9, 2018) 

He’s Bollywood’s iconic ‘Bad Man’ while for eight years his son was Hollywood’s go to guy. But now Sanjay Grover, giving into emotional pressure from papa Gulshan, has returned home to make movies here. He’s producing Hope Solo, the biopic of Afshan Ashiq, a woman footballer from Kashmir who later grabbed headlines as an alleged stone pelter. “It features Athiya Shetty and is the directorial debut of Rajkumar Santoshi’s former assistant Manish Harishankar. There’s another joint venture with some major Bollywood players revolving around a big fat Indian wedding that is in the fi nal stages of discussion,” informs Sanjay.

Gulshan is quick to add that he’d also like to see his son on screen, but as a lead actor. “Sanjay was offered a couple of films earlier, including the 2005 George Clooney-starrer Syriana, but he was too young then and I didn’t want him to get distracted and lose focus. But now he is ready to sail in two different boats,” papa beams.


A week before he graduated from UCLA with a degree in the ‘Business of Hollywood’ and ‘Business of Entertainment’, a chance encounter with former Chairperson of Metro Goldwyn Mayer’s Motion Pictures Group and co-CEO, Mary Parent, landed him a plum job at the Los Angeles studio as ‘Director, Special Projects’. “His office was on the same floor as Mary Parent who singled Sanjay out for his fearless, out-of-the-box ideas and approach to cinema. Even Saiwyn Quadras, writer of Mary Kom, Neerja and Parmanu, with whom he is collaborating on the Afshan biopic, is impressed, with his inputs to the script,” asserts the proud father who admits that while his acting jobs never gave him any stress, he was always tense visiting his son’s office at the MGM HQ. “I’ve made him pose for innumerable pictures within the premises like a gawky tourist till an embarrassed Sanjay banned my camera,” he guffaws.

Sanjay’s stint at MGM gave him the opportunity to dabble in diverse fields. While screening Hindi films and introducing Hollywood bigwigs to our cinema, he was also associated at the ground level with the making of films like The Hobbit, The Zookeeper, Fame and Creed. “My intention now is to combine the advantages of being involved with the production, distribution, financing and creatives of big studio Hollywood films with the Indian films I will produce,” he says. Papa adds that given the interest in India abroad, Sanjay who grew up and studied with star kids like Tiger Shroff, Shraddha Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor, Sooraj Pancholi and Athiya Shetty, has been designated by Hollywood studios to pinpoint Indian talent, particularly amongst the youngsters, for international projects. “Mary would say he was born in Bollywood and raised in Hollywood and she was right,” says Gulshan, revelling in the fact that after 15 years, he can hear his son’s voice echoing in his home, never mind if he’s chatting to friends or colleagues. “He’s the only family I have.”