Sanjay Leela Bhansali Net Worth, Wife, Age, Family, Biography & More

You might be wondering, who is Sanjay Leela Bhansali? Then let me start by saying that Sanjay Leela Bhansali is a great Producer and Film Director in the Bollywood film industry. He has also worked as a Music composer in many movie projects. Bhansali is the one who works with only the best actors of Bollywood. Sanjay has made a name for himself by winning several National Film Awards, Filmfare Awards and even the Padma Shri award for his movies. So today we will look into his life and reveal all the interesting details about Sanjay Leela Bhansali Net Worth, Wife, Age, Family, Biography & More.

Early life: Sanjay Leela Bhansali Father, Siblings

Sanjay was born in a Gujarati Jain family and his mother used to stitch clothes. He developed the habit of speaking Gujarati in his childhood. He also loves Gujarati Food, Art, and Culture.

His sister Bela Bhansali Sehgal is also a director and has directed Shirin Farhad Ki Toh Nikal Padi (2012) movie. Sanjay was the one who wrote the script for that movie. He also launched the career of his niece Sharmin Sehgal in the Bollywood industry. He wrote the movie Malaal (2019) in which his niece made her Bollywood debut.

Physical appearance, Height, Weight & Measurements

Sanjay Leela Bhansali Wife, Family, Marriage & Personal Life

Sanjay Leela Bhansali is not married but he did have past relationships. One such relationship of Sanjay Leela Bhansali was with Vaibhavi Merchant. She is a Choreographer. This relationship only became public when the media saw them together.

But as per reports, they met each other on the sets of the Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam movie. In that movie, Vaibhavi was the one who choreographed the Dholi Taro Dhol Baje song. This solidified their bond as friends back then. But then their relationship proceeded from friendship to love on the sets of another Sanjay Leela Bhansali movie titled Saawariya (2007). They made their public appearance together at the premiere of the Saawariya movie. This is when the media started taking an interest in their relationship developments. According to the media, they are even about to get married at one point but in the end they decide not to marry each other.

Qualifications and Education Background

Professional Career

• He was an assistant director under Vidhu Vinod Chopra before he became a director himself. Parinda (1989) and 1942: A Love Story (1994) were the two movies they directed together as a Duo. But this did not mean that they still wanted to work together on a third movie. When it came to directing a new movie titled Kareeb (1998), they both parted ways.
• Debut as Film Director: In 1996, His first debut movie as a director was Khamoshi: The Musical. It was a failure at the box office but it still got 5 Filmfare awards.
• Sanjay’s second movie Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999) became a big hit and gave him all the success he desired for so long. It was a movie about a love triangle which touched the audience’s hearts. This movie was even showcased in the Indian Panorama section at the International Film Festival of India (1999).
• Devdas (2002) was also directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. It became the highest-grossing film of that year.
• In 2005 he came out with his next movie “Black” which featured Amitabh Bachchan as the main lead. At Filmfare, it won even more awards than the Devdas movie.
• TV Debut: In the year 2006, Sanjay even became a judge in the reality show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa. Other judges on this show were Farah Khan and Shilpa Shetty.
• Downfall – What happened to Sanjay Leela Bhansali: There were not just ups but also downs in his career. His next project Saawariya (2007) did not collect big numbers at the box office. Even critics did not like that movie.
• Debut in Music Direction (2010): Sanjay Leela Bhansali became a music director with his next movie Guzaarish in 2010. It starred Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai. This movie also failed at the box office. To this day he still composes music for his movies. Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Meri Jaan and Dholida songs are a very recent example from his movie Gangubai Kathiawadi. He was very heavily involved in the writing of these song lyrics. Gangubai Kathiawadi was a relatively recent movie which had a star cast like Alia Bhatt.

• He was then seen as a judge in another reality show X Factor India Season 1 in 2011. In the same year, his other movie My Friend Pinto failed at the box office.
• In the year 2012, Sanjay became the producer for Rowdy Rathore. This was a remake of the Telugu movie Vikramarkudu and performed well in the cinemas. It was even a big commercial success.
• His next movie Shirin Farhad Ki Toh Nikal Padi failed to impress the audience.
• In year 2013, his next Movie Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela became the fifth highest-grossing movie.

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• Debut in the TV industry (2013): In the same year of 2013, Sanjay Leela Bhansali also became producer for the TV serial Saraswatichandra. Gautam Rode and Jennifer Winget were the main leads in its show.
• The “Mary Kom” movie became his next project. It was a biography film of boxer Mary Kom. It became the first film to be screened at the opening night of the Toronto International Film Festival.
• He returned to direction with his next movie Bajirao Mastani in 2015. It was a great commercial success.
• Bhansali’s most controversial movie so far is Padmaavat. It was released in 2018. It was claimed that this movie did not show historical events accurately and even tried to whitewash the crimes of foreign invaders. Regardless of the criticism, it became a great commercial success. It became the highest-grossing movie of 2018.
• His next big movie was released in 2022 with the title Gangubai Kathiawadi. It was based on the book Mafia Queens of Mumbai. Gangubai Kathiawadi won five National Film Awards in total which included Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Editing Award.

Sanjay has also created a web series titled Heera Mandi: The Diamond Bazaar for the streaming platform Netflix. If this series finds success then we may also get to see more Sanjay Leela Bhansali web series.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali Movie List

Political and Social Life

Controversies

Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela Controversy

This movie was first presented with the title Ramlila. Since Ramlila was, is and always will be a part of Lord Ram’s life, religious groups were not happy with this title. This title was seen as misleading and was even interpreted as mocking Lord Ram. This film’s release was even stayed by the Delhi High Court. Later this movie’s title was changed to Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela and finally, this movie was released.

Bajirao Mastani (2015) controversy

The descendants of Bajirao and Mastani were not happy with the release of Sanjay Leela Bansali’s movie titled Bajirao Mastani. They claimed that this movie is a misrepresentation of facts. It also mocks the culture and traditions of their community. It was also said that Sanjay has turned beautiful traditions and dances into item songs for his movie in the name of creative liberty.

Padmaavat Controversy: Why sanjay leela bhansali was beaten?

• During the release of his movie Padmaavat in 2017, a huge controversy was sparked as different allegations against Sanjay Leela Bhansali came to light. A section of the public said that Sajay is trying to change historical facts to suit his propaganda. This is the reason why Sanjay Leela Bhansali was assaulted in Jaipur. He was reportedly beaten by the “Shri Rajput Karni Sena” on the set of his movie Padmaavat. A similar incident was also reported in Kohlapur in which the Padmaavat movie set was damaged. Even to this day people still search for terms like “Why was Sanjay Leela Bhansali slapped” to find out the story behind this controversy.
• The Rajput community was especially not happy when they heard the rumour or “romantic love scene” between Queen Padmavati (played by Deepika Padukone) and Invader Allaudin Khilji (Ranveer Singh). Sanjay Leela Bhansali dismissed rumours of alleged love scenes between the Invader Khilji & Indian Queen Padmavati, and even asked for support from the Rajput Community. Not just Rajputs, but many different Hindu groups criticized this movie for its historical inaccuracies and Sanjay’s alleged sympathy for the cruel invader Khilji who invaded India.
• CBFC board also took notice of this controversy and recommended a few changes in the movie Padmaavat. Its name and historical references were then changed and finally film was released on 25 January 2018.

Awards, Nominations, and Honour

Sanjay Leela Bhansali has won many major awards. Some of the few notable mentions among them are his 7 National Film Awards, 12 Filmfare Awards, and a nomination for a BAFTA Award. Other than them he has also won Screen Awards, International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards and Zee Cine Awards.

National Film Awards

Filmfare Awards

Honour

In the year 2015, Sanjay Leela Bhansali was awarded the fourth highest civilian award in India Padma Shri.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali Net Worth, Lifestyle, Status, and Money

According to some online sources, Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s net worth is 940 Crore rupees. Recently he created a Netflix series by the name of Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazar which earned him around 60 to 65 crore rupees as his direcotor fee. The source of this information is Financial Express. According to them, Netflix has invested a big amount of Rs 200 crore in this one project.

Vehicles – Bike and Car Collection

Sanjay Leela Bhansali may own many cars but he likes to travel in his Mercedes-Benz W221. According to ABP News, he also owns a Mercedes S-class worth 1.20 crore and a 28 Lakh rupees Toyota Fortuner.

Likes, Preferences, and Favourites

Some Lesser Known Facts about Sanjay Leela Bhansali

• Sanjay’s father was not a successful producer and was even struggling at a point. However, due to his father, Sanjay’s interest was piqued in Bollywood movies. He was already so fascinated by the production and direction of movies in his class 2 of school, that he decided to become a Director altogether when he was a child.
• His movie Gangubai Kathiawadi was on the list of 301 feature films which were eligible for Oscar Awards.
• Bhansali is known as a shy person in Bollywood circles. That is the exact reason why he is not seen at Bollywood parties and functions.
• The movie Bajirao Mastani was announced by Sanjay in the year 2003. But it took him 11 years to make this movie. During this time, of 11 years people and media kept guessing about its lead star casts. Artists like Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan were all rumoured to be in this movie.
• Bhansali has also staged an opera by the name of Padmavati. It was then adapted from Albert Roussel’s writings. Its first show was premiered at the Theatre du Chatelet (Paris). At another venue, this show even received fifteen minutes of standing ovation at the end of the show.
• His movie Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela was inspired form the story of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.
• Bhansali is also known to lose his temper from time to time. According to some sources, this is the exact reason why Salman Khan and Sanjay Leela Bhansali don’t talk to each other anymore.
• Ameesha Patel and Sanjay Leela Bhansali also had a special friendship. At some point in the past, Bhansali wanted to work with Ameesha but Amisha’s manager had his differences with Bhansali. This led to Ameesha’s decision not to work with Bhansali. After the success of the Gadar movie, Bhansali sent a congratulatory letter to Ameesha for her movie’s success. In that letter, he even advised her to retire from movies as she had already reached a high peak in her career that others could only think of achieving.
• Reportedly Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Karan Johar were not on good terms as they had arguments during Piku Success Bash. But Sanjay has patched things up with Karan in recent years.

Social media accounts & Contact information

FAQs

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