Sanjay Leela Bhansali - From Choreographer To Director

I first met this young man at the Mehboob Studios when Bhushan Lakhandari, the official dance director of Vidhu Vinod Chopra's 1942 A Love Story", introduced him to me. Sanjay was the most active assistant on the sets and it was Bhushan who said, "Mark this young man, he will be one of the most successful directors of Hindi films one day".

Sanjay had told me that he had taken his mother's name, Leela as his middle name because of his love, affection and admiration for her both as a mother and as one of the most talented dancers he had ever seen.

Sanjay neither joined any director as an assistant director nor as a chorographer with any of the big names who he respected, because he was determined to learn everything about films all on his own.

And before you could say Sanjay Leela Bhansali again, he had made his debut as a director with Khamoshi starring Salman Khan, Manisha Koirala, Seema Biswas (who had played Phoolan Devi in Shekhar Kapur's film of the same name) and above all Nana Patekar. The film, which also had Helen playing a vital role, was a creative success and Sanjay was a big name with his very first film.

It was the beginning of a very interesting career of a young director who loved making all kinds of films without worrying about the consequences. Every film he made after his first has gone into the pages of history. Sanjay Leela Bhansali was the man behind some of the most unusual films based on subjects, which were never tried before, not tried the way he had at least. Sanjay was the director of films like Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Devdas, Black, Saawariya, Guzaarish and Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ram-Leela".

Every film showed something that was never seen in films made by other makers and he had the extraordinary ability to change the images of the big stars who worked with him, even established actors like Salman Khan, Ajay Devgn, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Madhuri Dixit, Rani Mukherji, Hrithik Roshan, Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone and above all Amitabh Bachchan. Sanjay also introduced two new faces, Ranbir Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor who had worked as his assistant directors during the making of Black.

Sanjay is a large-hearted filmmaker who has not only made films for his own banner, but has also given opportunities to other directors to make their own films. He has been the brain behind the making of films like My Friend Pinto and Shirin Farhad Ki Toh Nikal Padi (a film he had the courage to make with the well-known choreographer and director Farah Khan and Boman Irani in the lead roles). He has also walked into the world of television and "Saraswatichandra", a serial produced by him is considered one of the best productions in the business of television. He is also producing some very big films with some of the best directors today.