Indian filmmaker Sanjay Gupta, best known for directing Bollywood crime thrillers Kaante, Zinda and Shootout at Wadala, has died following a fall at his home in Mumbai. He was 59, according to Variety and India’s Press Trust of India (PTI).
Gupta reportedly suffered a fatal head injury after falling at his residence on Friday, 30 October. Filmmaker Milap Zaveri, a close friend of the director, confirmed his death to PTI.
Fellow filmmaker Ashoke Pandit also announced the news on social media, describing Gupta as a passionate director and a gifted storyteller.
The circumstances surrounding the accident have not been fully established.
Sanjay Gupta’s career in Bollywood
Gupta began his directing career with the 1994 action film Aatish: Feel the Fire, starring Sanjay Dutt and Aditya Pancholi. Over the following three decades, he became known for crime dramas, action sequences and stories about Mumbai’s criminal underworld.
His breakthrough came with the 2002 heist thriller Kaante, which featured Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Suniel Shetty and Lucky Ali.
He later directed Zinda (2006), Shootout at Wadala (2013) and Jazbaa (2015), the latter starring Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Irrfan Khan.
In 2017, Gupta directed the revenge thriller Kaabil, featuring Hrithik Roshan and Yami Gautam. His later projects included Mumbai Saga (2021) and The Miranda Brothers (2024).
Gupta also worked as a producer through his company White Feather Films, which backed several Bollywood productions, including Shootout at Lokhandwala.
His death prompted tributes from colleagues across the Indian film industry.
Filmmaker Rakesh Roshan, who collaborated with Gupta on Kaabil, told Hindustan Times that the news was «shockingly sad».
Film critic Taran Adarsh also expressed disbelief, saying he had met the director only days earlier.
Gupta is survived by his wife Anuradha Lekhi and their children.
