Sanjay Gupta recalls sitting in Amitabh Bachchan’s room at Jalsa: ‘Speakers worth Rs 50 lakhs, 30 designer pens’

He shared that when they were at Sanjay Dutt’s house in Bandra the actor called up Big B and set up his meeting for the narration. “Sanjay Dutt had called up Amitji to ask if I could narrate the film and he fixed the meeting for two days later at 11 am. I was very nervous, at 10:55 am I pulled up outside Amitji’s house and two guards came running and said they would park the car. They gave me the directions. I walked into his compound and stepped onto the staircase, and I saw Amitabh Bachchan’s black and white pictures from his films, shoots, etc. So by the time you reach the second floor, you seem very little. Then they took me to a very well-furnished room where I sat on a sofa and was offered refreshments,” Sanjay shared.

He further recalled, “Suddenly the door from behind opened, and this giant figure walked out in a white Pathaani, introducing himself. He took me to another room and said he would be back in five minutes. I knew Big B was into very hi-tech sound systems, so the speakers and gramophones he uses are like Rs 50-60 lakhs plus, I saw that equipment. On his desk there was this mug, it had 25 to 30 pens in it and they were all Mont Blanc’s designer editions. He then came and sat down and we started the narration. He just sat there with a straight face and I got a little nervous. I told to myself that it was not going very well. So I asked him if I could narrate in my style and he said yes.”

Sanjay Gupta further added “The thought in my head was that one day I will tell my grandchildren that I narrated a story to Big B at his home. The narration was over in 30 minutes and after that were the most terrifying 20-25 seconds of my life. There was no reaction and my heart was beating very fast, then I asked him what do you think and he said he loved it. I almost couldn’t believe it. That’s how the journey started.”

Kaante was a heist drama which released in 2002, other than Sanjay Dutt and Amitabh Bachchan, the film also starred Mahesh Manjrekar, Suniel Shetty, Lucky Ali, and Kumar Gaurav in important roles.