Sanjay Gupta, director of Kaante, Zinda and Shootout at Wadala, dies at 59 after a fall at home

Indian film director Sanjay Gupta, best known for the heist thriller Kaante (2002) and the crime dramas Zinda and Shootout at Wadala, has died at 59.

Filmmaker Ashoke Pandit confirmed the news on Instagram on Saturday and said Gupta died "due to a head injury". Family sources quoted by the trade paper Film Information said he fell at home on Friday night and the fall went unnoticed until early Saturday morning, Hollywood Reporter India reported. Further details and the time of the last rites were still awaited.

Pandit called him "an ace director" and "a wonderful narrator", and said the loss was great for the industry.

His films

Gupta made his debut with the action film Aatish: Feel the Fire (1994), followed by Ram Shastra (1995), Hameshaa (1997), Jung (2000) and Khauff (2000).

Kaante, with Amitabh Bachchan and Sanjay Dutt, defined the look he became known for: heavy colour grading, stylised camera work and big ensemble casts. His other films as director include:

• Musafir (2004)
• Zinda (2006), with Sanjay Dutt and John Abraham
• Dus Kahaniyaan (2007)
• Shootout at Wadala (2013)
• Jazbaa (2015), with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Irrfan Khan
• Kaabil (2017), with Hrithik Roshan
• Mumbai Saga (2021)

His last film as director was The Miranda Brothers, starring Harshvardhan Rane and Meezaan Jafri. He founded White Feather Films, through which he wrote, directed and produced.

Following in Pakistan

Indian films have not had a cinema release in Pakistan since 2019, so viewers here know Gupta's later work, including Kaabil and Mumbai Saga, from television and streaming rather than the big screen.

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