Sanjay Khanna
Biography
Sanjay Khanna began his film career assisting acclaimed director Shekhar Kapur on Mr. India, managing the shoot and all stages of production. When Kapur moved on to Bandit Queen, he appointed Sanjay to complete Dushmani, starring Sunny Deol and Manisha Koirala. Sanjay later became COO of Kapur’s Quasar Films and Associate Director for all his commercials, including the ‘Force One SUV’ ad with Amitabh Bachchan.
Sanjay made his directorial debut with Anth (starring Suniel Shetty, Somy Ali, and Paresh Rawal), which became a Silver Jubilee hit and won the Filmfare Award for Best Action Film. He followed it with Shastra, remembered for the chartbuster “Kya Ada Kya Jalwa Tere Paro,” which also launched singer Sunidhi Chauhan and writer Yunus Sejawal. He then directed the action-comedy Ittefaq and the thriller Junoon.
Expanding into television, Sanjay directed hundreds of episodes across major Indian channels, and helmed Specials at 10: Shauhrat Nafrat Aur Showbiz for Sony TV—nominated at the Seoul Festival and winner of several TV awards.
He later joined Suniel Shetty’s Popcorn Entertainment as Creative Director, overseeing all productions and filming sequences for movies like EMI and Loot. Sanjay also worked as Creative Head at Dubai-based Spectrum 7, directing numerous international commercials and corporate films.
