Name- Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Date of Birth- 24 February 1963
Age- 60 years (as in 2021)
Religion- Hinduism
Nationality- Indian
Mother- Leela Bhansali
Father- Navin Bhansali
Sister– Bela Segal
Brother- N/A
Marital Status/Marriage- Unmarried
Wife- N/A
Son- N/A
Daughter- N/A
Height- 5’8 approx.
Net Worth- $1-$5 Million USD approx.
Table of Contents
Sanjay Leela Bhansali Biography
The one who have completely reformed the cinema and Bollywood industry in the most enigmatic way. The one who is recipient of numerous National Awards for his contribution at Indian cinema. He is not only the best but also one of the most successful directors of Bollywood. Actors like Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Priyanka Chopra and Shahrukh Khan never falls short of words for this amazing person. He is none other than The Great Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Over the years, he has given numerous masterpiece movies to the box office that still gives chill to the audiences when they watch it.
Here we’ve written a small Sanjay Leela Bhansali biography, his family details, facts, love life, etc. for his fans. So, lets’ start without any further delay!
Who is Sanjay Leela Bhansali?
Sanjay Leela Bhansali is a famous Indian director, producer, filmmaker, screenwriter, and music director. He is primarily known for his work in Indian cinema. He is one of the most successful director and filmmaker of India who has won several awards that includes National Film Awards, Filmfare Awards, Padma Shri and a BAFTA nomination.
In the year 1997, he started his own production company named Bhansali Productions and have produced lots of super hit movies like Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Black, Saawariya, Guzaarish, etc.
Sanjay Leela Bhansali Family
He was born in Bhuleshwar, South Mumbai, into a middle class Gujarati family. His father name is Navin Bhansali who was film producer and mother name is Leela Bhansali who used to stitch clothes to meet the family ends. He also have a sister named Bela Segal. He came from a middle class family and had to face financial crisis during his childhood.
Sanjay Leela Bhansali Wife
Sanjay Leela Bhansali is single and not married as of now. Though once there were some rumors of him dating choreographer Vaibhavi Merchant. They have known each other for a long time but were attracted to each other during the making of movie Saawariya. It made it obvious that there is something more than professionalism when she walked into the premier of a movie along with his mother and sister.
Initially, both of them decided to keep their relationship quite low profile as Sanjay wanted his Mom to give her the consent so they can move to the next level. But soon the alleged couple realized that they are not meant for each other and parted their ways. Despite not being in relationship, they still are very fond of each other and consider each other as good friends.
Sanjay Leela Bhansali Career
After completing his studies, he decided to pursue his childhood dream of becoming a director. And so he started his career with Vidhu Vinod Chopra as his assistant director. They worked together in movies Parinda and 1942: A Love Story. But soon they had a fallout and they parted their ways. In 1996, he made his debut as a director with movie Khamoshi: The Musical. Unfortunately the movie didn’t work good at the box office but was critically acclaimed by the movie critics.
He doesn’t had to wait long to get success as his second directorial movie was Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam became a huge hit. The movie was also screened at International Film Festival of India. Later he came with yet another masterpiece Devdas that was shown at Cannes Film Festival as well as in Academy Award For The Best Foreign Language Film.
In 2005, his movie Black also was super hit and won almost 11 Filmfare Awards. Then in between making movies, he also judged few reality shows like Jhalak Dikkhla Jaa and X Factor India.
In the year 2008, he directed an stage opera Padmavati which was premiered at Theatre du Chatelet and Festival dei Due Mondi in Paris and Italy respectively. The show even received long 15 minutes standing ovation.
Post that he came with many movies like Guzaarish, Mary Kom, Baajirao Mastani, Padmavat, Goliyon Ki Rasleela- Ram Leela, Rowdy Rathore, etc. All these movies were super hit at the box office and made him one of the most successful director and filmmaker of the Hindi cinema.
Controversy
Have a look at few of the controversies that he has been part of:
- In 2017, he was reportedly beaten up by few members of “Karni Sena” while he was shooting for movie Padmavat. This happened because the community was quite upset of him making alleged love scenes between Padmavat and Alauddin Khilji. Later, Sanjay cleared the air & said that all those news of love making or intimate scenes is nothing but a rumor only.
- In same incident, one angry man set the main stage on fire and have also damaged the cars parked around the sets. If reports are to be believed then a horse was also got injured in this incident.
- Later in the same year in November, a huge protest was held by the Karni Sena to stop the release of the movie. But everything was sorted when the movie title was changed to Padmavat from Padmavati along with few changes in movie and its songs Ghoomar.
Facts About Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Have a look at some of the lesser known facts about Sanjay Leela Bhansali:
- He was born on 24 February 1963 in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
- Since his father was a producer, he has been surrounded by actors and directors. This is where he started getting inclined towards direction and decided of becoming a Director when he was in 2nd standard only.
- Unfortunately, his father didn’t become a successful producer and was aware of the struggles in the industry. So based on his experience, he advised him to choose some other field in his career. But Sanjay was determined to become director and chose his passion as his career.
- He has adopted the middle name “Leela” from his mother Leela Bhansali, as a tribute to her.
- Initially, he started his career with Vidhu Vinod Chopra as his assistant for almost seven years.
- Due to some reasons, the two of them had an ugly altercation and they didn’t do their third movie “Kareeb” together.
- The movie Khamoshi: The Musical was the first film directed by him. In this movie, actress Helen have made a special cameo on special request of Salman Khan.
- His first hit movie he gave at the box office was Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam starring Salman Khan, Ajay Devgn and Aishwarya Rai.
- It is said that Sanjay sometimes show bad temper on the sets and because of his temper, Bhansali even had a fallout with superstar Salman Khan. The two were not on talking terms for a long time.
- In his super hit movie Devdas, the song “Dola Re Dola” took almost a week to write because he wanted it to be perfect as he united two of the Bollywood’s biggest actresses Madhuri Dixit and Aishwarya Rai in it.
- In the year 2005, the Times Magazine of Europe had selected his movie “Black” at 5th position in the Top 10 movies of that year.
- Black was one of his most complicated movies that he ever dealt with. The movie have won 11 Filmfare awards despite not being the commercial comedy Bollywood masala movie.
- In 2013, he made Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ram-Leela with Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh which was one of the most successful movies of the year.
- Then again, he casted Ranveer and Deepika together for his another movie Bajirao Mastani for which he was awarded with “National Award in the Best Director Category”. He had announced the movie in the year 2003 but it almost took him 11 years to make it and finalizing the project and cast.
- He borrowed the famous Pinga step from his cook whom he calls Maasi.
- In the year 2013, he won “National Award” for super hit movie Padmaavat.
- Sanjay is known to be very introvert person and that is why he is very rarely seen in any Bollywood parties and events.
Final Words
Sanjay Leela Bhansali is one of the most successful filmmakers of Bollywood and Indian cinema who have given lots of masterpiece to the industry. Known as the best and the most versatile directors and filmmakers of Bollywood, it is every actor’s dream to work with him at least for once in their career.
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