Sanjay Gupta began his filmmaking career with a very successful Sanjay Dutt starrer "Aatish'.
The film was produced by G.P.Sippy and also featured Aditya Pancholi, Raveena Tandon and Karishma Kapoor. The film evoked the violent theme reminiscent of 1970's hindi films ex. Deewar. But his next film "Ram Shastra' with Jackie Shroff and Manisha Koirala had a dismal run at the box office. This was followed by a high profile G. P. Sippy film "Hamesha' starring Kajol, Saif Ali Khan and Aditya Pancholi . A love triangle and reincarnation story with an imaginative visual treatment also proved unable to draw in the crowds.
Sanjay Gupta belongs to the young breed of Hindi film directors inspired by Hollywood directors like John Woo and Robert Depalma. Sanjay Gupta's films are marked by their exceptional visual quality and execution of shots but a weak storyline has more often than not proved to be his archilles heal.
"Khauff" is Sanjay Gupta's foray into the suspense thriller genre. The film is inspired by the Hollywood film "Juror" which featured Demi Moore and Alec Baldwin and has also drawn elements from the Peter Weir film "Witness". The film creates some hair raising sequences. Sanjay Gupta has elicit a moving performance from Manisha Koirala and presented Sanjay Dutt in an exciting, bordering on the negative, avatar.
