The news of Sanjay Gupta's demise shocked the entire film industry. For Fardeen Khan, the filmmaker's death felt like a personal loss. During an interview, the actor revealed that the bond Sanjay used to share with Fardeen's father, Feroz, passed down to him.
In a conversation with Variety India, Fardeen remembered how Sanjay stood by him when he made his comeback on screen. “He was the first person to find me. When I came back after 12 years, I was lost in some sense. It was a whole new landscape I had returned to. I was meeting people I'd worked with previously. I'd even met casting director Mukesh Chhabra, too. I just wanted people to know I was back,” he shared, revealing it was Sanjay Gupta who helped him during this time.
Fardeen continued, “At the time, everyone thought I didn't live in this country. I wanted people to see me in person because, by that time, they had seen not very flattering pictures of me. I went and met Sanjay Gupta to let him know I was back and that I was looking for work. I told him, ‘Please keep me in mind if anything comes along'.” The actor revealed during that time that Sanjay offered him a role in Visfot.
“I couldn't believe my ears. And it was a parallel role to Ritesh Deshmukh's character,” Fardeen shared, recalling what the director told him before his comeback. “He told me, ‘It's your first release after your return. I want you to make a grand impact,'” Fardeen shared.
The actor further revealed that Sanjay had the foresight to cast him in Shoaib's role. “He gave the character a background, just for my sake. My character became someone who had gone abroad and then came back home. I was extremely grateful. And I gave it my best. He had absolute faith and trust in me. That meant the world to me at that time. He gave me the shoes to walk with on my second innings. And for that, I've always remained in his debt and am grateful to him,” Fardeen added.
However, Fardeen feels it is unfortunate that Visfot's release got delayed due to several reasons and it was Heeramandi that came out first. Despite such change in plans, Fardeen revealed he was “extremely happy” when Visfot was finally released and credited his success to Sanjay Gupta.
