MUMBAI: Filmmaker Sanjay Gupta revealed that he was boycotted by the film industry after his fallout with Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt.       

In an interview with PTI, he said, “It was the easiest film to cast. I was mostly working with friends. Thanks to Sanju, the film was getting made because no big movie gets made unless you have a star, so that was the start. I was working with certain producers who had no clue. There was always so much I wanted to do but I would never get that free hand. Maybe I was not communicating to them what I wanted to do. My thinking was different always. When I became a producer, there was nobody I was answerable to, that's why there's a paradigm shift.” 

He added, “Kaante happened and one didn't have to look back till there was a gap again just before Shootout at Wadala of almost four years. Ninety per cent of the film industry wasn't willing to work with me. They were told to not work with me after my fallout with Sanju. That was an exceptionally low phase. I had almost given up. I had started work on a hotel in Khandala and used to go there four days a week. I thought this is my future since I won't be getting work in the industry."

The filmmaker shared that things changed when his son was born. He said, “I was holding him in my arms, and I thought, 'What am I going to leave for him'? 'Since when have I become a quitter'? I started at the age of 15, made my first film at the age of 22, now why was I ready to quit at 40? Ekta Kapoor and I had spoken about a sequel of Shootout. So I picked up the phone and told her, 'I'm ready' and that's it. Later, I met John Abraham and Anil Kapoor and they said yes. But they were also told not to work with me.”

“Anil had given a statement saying 'if Sanju directly tells me, don't work with Gupta, I won't. But he will have to give me a reason about why I shouldn't'. That was very gracious of Anil to make that statement in my support. Then the film came and bombed. Somewhere we lost contact. Saif was asked in an interview about our friendship. He said, 'No, those are friendships that last through a film, then you go different ways.' It hurt me tremendously.”

"I wasn't looking at him as a friend only for the film. It was a life lesson that everyone is friendly if you're friendly but at the end of the day, it is just work. In this business, if you don't work with the person you're friendly towards and work with someone else that person gets offended. With Sanju, the lines blurred. After we patched up, we haven't worked together. We were never work friends or got along because we were working, so it's totally cool.  But I've realised that you don't have to make everyone your best friend. I trust people easily, open up quickly. But I've learnt to balance,” he added