Mumbai, May – From revolutionising Bollywood’s gangster genre with cult blockbusters like Kaante, Shootout at Lokhandwala, Shootout at Wadala, Kaabil, and Aatish to creating some of Hindi cinema’s most stylized action dramas, filmmaker Sanjay Gupta brought his trademark unfiltered honesty to a fiery episode of Incontroversial by Pooja Chaudhri. In a brutally candid conversation, Gupta spoke about real-life underworld backlash over Shootout at Wadala, Bollywood’s alarming “star crisis,” the rise of Dhurandhar, working with Hrithik Roshan and Sanjay Dutt, the decline of theatrical cinema in the OTT era, and why today’s filmmakers have forgotten the art of creating larger-than-life heroes that once defined the golden era of Hindi cinema.
In a conversation packed with explosive anecdotes, industry truths and nostalgia from the golden era of gangster dramas, Gupta also reflected on the rise of Dhurandhar, his bond with Sanjay Dutt, working with Hrithik Roshan in Kaabil, and how OTT platforms have fundamentally altered Hindi cinema.
Talking about the reaction from the real underworld after Shootout at Wadala, Gupta revealed that gangsters were furious with the way Manya Surve was portrayed onscreen.
“I got into trouble with the actual underworld when Shootout at Wadala happened, and they were very upset. Their biggest complaint was, ‘Why the hell have you made Manya Surve a hero? We used to call him ‘Chappal Chor.’ But I told them, however heroic they may look in the film, they all die a dog’s death in the end.”
Gupta also recalled how the iconic Shootout at Lokhandwala was born from a random in-flight magazine article that completely consumed him.
“I saw this image of A.A. Khan walking through the compound with dead bodies lying around, and I was hooked. I thought, what happens inside that flat when five shooters know 300 policemen have come to kill them, not arrest them? That was the genesis of Shootout at Lokhandwala.”
The filmmaker, known for stylized action dramas like Kaante, Aatish, Zinda, and the Shootout franchise, blamed Bollywood’s creative shift on filmmakers trying too hard to impress critics instead of audiences.
“The Gen Z directors have grown up on the three Khans playing love stories. We grew up on heroes. Dharamji, Amitabh Bachchan, Vinod Khanna, Sunny Deol, and Sanjay Dutt. Men who walked into a room and owned it.”
Gupta also made a striking observation on how South Indian cinema preserved the larger-than-life hero template once popularized by Amitabh Bachchan.
“Most of Mr. Bachchan’s films were remade in the South with Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan. Bollywood moved away from that cinema, trying to impress critics, while the South kept making audience-driven mass films.”
Speaking about the frenzy around Dhurandhar and director Aditya Dhar, Gupta revealed that the project was considered an enormous gamble internally.
“Nobody in their right mind would put that kind of money on a director who had done one film and an actor who was at an all-time career low. But they believed in it and backed it.”
He also praised the scale and ambition of the film.
“Rakesh ji told me they shot for 150 days and made an eight-hour film. As soon as you see it, a thousand crores are made just like that.”
Opening up about Kaabil and working with Hrithik Roshan, Gupta admitted the film went completely against industry expectations.
“People expected me and Hrithik to make a glossy commercial entertainer. But I quietly made Kaabil the way I wanted to. If I had followed the math, I would have cast Rajkummar Rao instead. But Hrithik’s conviction made that film what it became.”
The director also spoke emotionally about Sanjay Dutt and why he believes Bollywood has failed to fully utilize the superstar in recent years.
“Before Dhurandhar, I feel Sanju was grossly wasted. Filmmakers didn’t know how to present him properly. I grew up with him, so I understand his strengths instinctively.”
Gupta confirmed that early groundwork for Kaante 2 is now underway, teasing a dream cast featuring Sanjay Dutt, Abhishek Bachchan, Manoj Bajpayee, Jaideep Ahlawat, Vijay Varma and Ali Fazal.
Despite the industry turmoil, Gupta remained unapologetically outspoken till the very end, perfectly summing up the legacy that made him one of Bollywood’s most controversial voices.
“I can’t bullshit for the life of me. If I love something, I’ll say it. If I don’t, I just stay quiet.”
Link to the podcast – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ko-ekYPz8-s
