"It was not his time to go” was the sentiment echoed across the Hindi film industry following filmmaker Sanjay Gupta’s accidental death at his Mumbai residence. The 57-year-old filmmaker suffered a head injury after accidentally falling in his kitchen on Friday (October 30). Friends and collaborators remembered his spirited nature and passion for cinema.

Shabana Azmi, who co-produced the 2007 anthology Dus Kahaaniyan with Gupta and later acted in his Jazbaa (2015), said she could not believe she was speaking about him in the past tense. “On the sets, he gave a lot of freedom to his actors after giving them an outline of what he had in mind. He was positive, always enthusiastic, and a very good producer. Sanjay was always full of stories and a keen cineaste,” Azmi told mid-day.

Known for slick actioners featuring cool anti-heroes and thumping music, Gupta made his mark with Kaante (2002) and Musafir (2004). Producer Rangita Nandy, whose father Pritish Nandy co-produced Kaante, revealed that she and Gupta had recently discussed a sequel.

“Sanjay and we made an unforgettable film. Kaante, which remains a defining film — distinctive in its storytelling, stylish in its execution, and unforgettable for the way it brought together an exceptional cast and a gripping heist narrative. He was always keen to make a sequel. It’s unfortunate that that wish will remain a dream,” she said.

Writer and director Milap Zaveri, who co-wrote Kaante’s dialogues, remembered Gupta as his mentor. “He gave me Kaante at 21. Then resurrected my career again with Musafir, and Shootout At Wadala [2013]. He was my father. My teacher. I’m heartbroken.”

Gupta’s last directorial was The Miranda Brothers (2024). Its lead actor, Harshvardhan Rane, remembered his warmth and love for family. “He was all about loving his family and making films non-stop. During shoot, he often took Meezaan [Jafri] and me out to eat in Goa. I had never met a happier man on and off set. He had a huge heart, and I will miss him dearly,” Rane added.

There has been much talk about the entertainment industry making room for stories over stars. But the on-ground reality is different, says Sanjay Gupta. The filmmaker learnt it the hard way as he set out to make The Miranda Brothers, starring Harshvardhan Rane and Meezaan Jafri. “To pull off such a film isn’t easy. I started my digital wing because we cannot ignore OTT,” he states.

The casting for the football drama, set to première on Jio Cinema, had to be simple. The director needed two actors well-versed in the sport. “I wanted to make the film immediately. If I were to go to Varun [Dhawan] or Sidharth [Malhotra], I would have to wait for a year. None of the stars at that time were willing to do a direct-to-OTT film. Even now, most of them are not. As I shot this movie in Goa, I learnt that I’m not dependent on a crew of 300. You can be a big-ticket director and yet make a movie that you feel for. Every film doesn’t have to be with mega stars.”

The Miranda Brothers is a departure for Gupta, who, over the past three decades, has made movies about the Bombay underworld—be it the Shootout franchise, or Mumbai Saga (2019). But today, even as the underworld has reared its ugly head again with Baba Siddique’s murder, the director says the current environment can’t be reflected on celluloid.

“These times cannot be chronicled because everything is state-controlled, even crime. You have Lawrence Bishnoi sitting in the Sabarmati jail, putting out videos and messages. What’s going on! This is a show of law and order collapsing. Ektaa [R Kapoor] and I are working on the third edition of the Shootout franchise. One of the decisions we’ve made is not to set it in Mumbai. These are uncertain times. So, we are researching to do [a story] outside Mumbai.”

This restraint is not in crime stories alone. Gupta rues that he has to often hold back as a filmmaker, given the current scenario.

“If you’re an intelligent filmmaker and not too stubborn, you make the changes yourself because the legal department and OTT platforms go through the script and they censor it [preemptively]. They say this may land us in trouble, that may land us in trouble. It’s an atmosphere of fear. You cannot have fearless storytelling anymore. My next show is based on a true story that happened in Mumbai in front of our eyes, it was appalling. But we’re changing the names because you can’t take names anymore. I feel disillusioned on behalf of the new generation of filmmakers. They all have a voice. But how many of them will be able to express what they truly want to? There is no medium. Earlier, it seemed that you can say what you want on OTT. But now it has become the most censored as people heavily come down on them. Today, the filmmaker’s agency is taken away.”