Sanjay Gupta death: He once had a fallout with a Bollywood star leaving him with no work for 3 years. 'We didn't speak'

The combination of filmmaker Sanjay Gupta and actor Sanjay Dutt has given some of the most remembered action films in Bollywood. Aatish: Feel the Fire, Kaante and Musafir, the two collaborated on many projects and shared a friendship beyond the film sets. But their relationship was not always smooth. At one point, the filmmaker and actor stopped speaking to each other for more than four years, and Gupta later revealed that the fallout also affected his career, leaving him without work for three years.

Gupta, who died at 59 after reportedly suffering a serious head injury in a bathroom fall late on Friday night, had spoken about this difficult chapter in an interview with Siddharth Kannan. He revealed how misunderstandings surrounding his friendship with Dutt affected him in the film industry.

Why Sanjay Gupta and Sanjay Dutt stopped speaking

Gupta made his directorial debut with Aatish: Feel the Fire in 1994, starring Dutt. Their association continued with films such as Kaante (2002), Musafir (2004) and Zinda (2006). However, their friendship eventually suffered a setback.


Speaking about what went wrong, Gupta said there was no major disagreement between the two. Instead, he believed people around them created misunderstandings that kept them apart.

"Nothing went wrong. What went wrong, I think, were the people around us. Some people around us tried to create too many misunderstandings between us. We didn't speak for four years," he said.

He also pointed out that neither he nor Dutt publicly spoke against the other during their separation.

Filmmaker had no work for three years

The professional consequences of the fallout were particularly difficult for Gupta. He claimed that people in the industry stopped taking his calls because they believed Dutt had asked them not to work with him.

"I sat without work for three years. People had stopped taking my calls because there were people calling up people and saying, ‘Sanjay Dutt has asked you not to work with Sanjay Gupta.' Sanjay Dutt never said that," he told Siddharth Kannan.

Gupta also accused producer Dharam Oberoi, who briefly worked as Dutt's manager, of spreading the claim. According to the filmmaker, people believed the information because it came from someone associated with the actor.

The situation became so difficult that Gupta considered shutting down his office and giving up filmmaking. He recalled taking up work on a friend's hotel in Lonavala, where he was renovating the property and planning to run it. His wife was pregnant, and he needed to find a way to support his family.

Gupta said the birth of his son eventually motivated him to return to filmmaking. He wanted to leave behind a legacy for his child.

How the two friends reconciled

Their differences finally came to an end at Amitabh Bachchan's 70th birthday party. Gupta recalled that he was talking to John Abraham when Dutt suddenly spotted him and called out, "Hey Gups".

The actor walked up to him, and the two hugged and cried. Gupta said that was when their differences were forgotten.

Although their friendship was restored, Gupta initially decided that they would neither work nor drink together. However, he later spoke about the possibility of collaborating with Dutt again.

Following Gupta's death, Dutt shared an emotional tribute on X, remembering him as a brother. The actor also revealed that they had recently discussed Kaante 2 and promised to make the sequel in his memory.

"We were just discussing Kante 2 recently, I will make Kaante 2 your dream, in memory of you my brother," Dutt wrote.