EXCLUSIVE: Sanjay Gadhvi’s funeral to take place on November 20; Viveck Vaswani reveals he started his career assisting on Salman Khan’s Patthar Ke Phool; was in talks to direct action show for Viveck: “I asked myself, ‘Who better than Sanjay after Dhoom?’”

Director Sanjay Gadhvi would have turned 57 this year on November 22. Sadly, he passed away all of a sudden today, on the morning of November 19, leaving the industry and moviegoers shocked. As per reports on the internet, the funeral is scheduled to take place today evening. However, Bollywood Hungama has learned that it’s not the case. The mourners have been asked to assemble at his residence Green Acres tomorrow at 9:30 am to pay their last respects. The funeral will take place at 10:30 am at Oshiwara crematorium.

Viveck Vaswani spoke exclusively with Bollywood Hungama about this aspect and also said, “His wife Jeena is in Kolkata. She’s coming back today.” The actor-producer had an association of more than four decades with Sanjay. The deceased filmmaker started his career assisting on Viveck’s Salman Khan-starrer Patthar Ke Phool (1991).

Viveck Vaswani said, “I even knew his wife. When he was assisting on Patthar Ke Phool, we designed the clothes for Salman Khan at my father’s shop Ruksons at Marine Lines. Jeena was working at the shop. He used to meet her when he used to pick up the costumes.”

Viveck knew him even before their professional collaboration, “He was four years junior to me at Campion School, Mumbai. I know a Campion boy called Lalit Ajgaonkar, who’s a big ad filmmaker today. Lalit once came to meet me. Sanjay was with him and he sat outside. After the meeting, he picked up Lalit’s bag and started walking. I asked him who he was and why he was picking Lalit’s bag. He replied ‘Lalit sir told me that if you want to work for me, start by carrying this bag’.”

Viveck continued, “He was an active warrior on the sets and had a lot of passion. He finished Patthar Ke Phool and I told him that he should work for its director Anant Balani. He didn’t come on board for Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman (1992). Anant was also happy as he wanted Sanjay on Jazbaat (1994). We were like one big family. We used to have dinner together and talk about Manmohan Desai, Yash Chopra, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, etc. We used to try watching a film every night. It is hard that someone who loved cinema and whom you have known for more than 40 years has gone.”

When did Viveck Vaswani speak with Sanjay Gadhvi the last time? The actor-producer answered, “I was in the process of doing an action-packed show. I was continuously talking to him the whole week before last. It has a lot of action and I asked myself, ‘Who better than Sanjay after Dhoom (2004)?’. Hence, we were constantly in talks.”

Also Read: Sanjay Gadhvi, director of Dhoom and Dhoom 2, passes away at 57