Sanjay Kapoor

For the politician, see Sanjay Kapoor (politician). For the fictional EastEnders character, see Sanjay Kapoor (EastEnders).

Sanjay Surinder Kapoor (born 17 October 1965)^[2] is an Indian actor and film producer. He works in Hindi cinema, Indian television and web series.^[3] He is a member of the Surinder Kapoor family. Kapoor is the founder and director of Sanjay Kapoor Entertainment Private Limited.^[4][5]

Sanjay Kapoor
Kapoor in 2016
Born	(1965-10-17) 17 October 1965 (age 59)[1] Bombay, Maharashtra, India
Occupations	Actor film producer
Years active	1995–present
Spouse	Maheep Kapoor ​ (m. 1997)​
Children	2
Father	Surinder Kapoor
Relatives	See Surinder Kapoor family

Early life and background

Kapoor was born to Nirmal Kapoor and film producer Surinder Kapoor into a Punjabi Hindu family which embraces Arya Samaj teachings.^[6] He has three older siblings Boney Kapoor, Anil Kapoor and Reena Marwah.^[7] Actors Sonam Kapoor, Arjun Kapoor, Janhvi Kapoor, Khushi Kapoor, Mohit Marwah and Harshvardhan Kapoor, and film producer Rhea Kapoor are his nephews and nieces. The Kapoor family of Prithviraj Kapoor are also his distant relatives as Prithviraj Kapoor was his father's cousin.

Career

Sanjay in 2011

Film career and few successes (1995–present)

Kapoor made his debut in Hindi cinema in 1995 with the movie Prem, opposite newcomer Tabu. Although both debutants rendered fairly decent performances, the movie was delayed for many years as it was in production since 1989. Sanjay was 30 when it finally released, the press then dismissively calling him Hindi industry's "oldest newcomer."^[8] It bombed at the box office.^[9] Kapoor's next movie was Raja (1995) opposite Madhuri Dixit which was a box office success. He went on to star in several films as a lead actor such as Auzaar (1997), Mohabbat (1997) and Sirf Tum (1999). Apart from the moderately successful Chhupa Rustam: A Musical Thriller (2001) he didn't have much success as a lead actor as most of his films failed at the box office.^[10][11] In 2002, he appeared as a villain playing the psychotic husband of Esha Deol in Koi Mere Dil Se Poochhe. His performance was praised by critics.^[12]

He started playing supporting roles in films like Qayamat: City Under Threat (2003), Julie (2004), Luck By Chance (2009) and Shaandaar (2015).

He turned to producing with his first production Tevar starring his nephew Arjun Kapoor releasing in 2015.^[13] He played a cameo appearing alongside his brother Anil for the first time in Mubarakan (2017).

In early 2018, Sanjay was cast in the anthology film Lust Stories as a lead character opposite actress Manisha Koirala.^[14][15] In the same year, he was cast in the movie The Zoya Factor as his real life niece Sonam Kapoor's on screen father,^[16] and in 2019 in the Kannada film Seetharama Kalyana.^[17] In 2020, he appeared in a short film Sleeping Partner opposite actress Divya Dutta.^[18]

Television and web career (2003–present)

He made his debut on television in 2003 appearing in the television serial Karishma – The Miracles of Destiny opposite Karisma Kapoor.

In 2017, he was cast in Vikram Bhatt's television serial Dil Sambhal Jaa Zara opposite Smriti Kalra.^[19] The show is about a man marrying a girl much younger than him and how they try to make their marriage work.^[20]

In 2018, he landed a role in ALTBalaji's web series Soggy Hoga Tera Baap as Chiraag Arora.^[21] In 2019, it was announced that Sanjay eventually opted out of Ekta Kapoor's project, choosing instead Amazon Prime series The Last Hour, which released in 2021, playing the role of DCP Arup Singh.^[22]

In 2020, he appeared in The Gone Game, a psychological thriller miniseries on Voot, as Rajeev Gujral. In 2022, he appeared in the Netflix web show The Fame Game as Nikhil More, opposite Madhuri Dixit.

Personal life

Sanjay with his wife Maheep

He married his longtime girlfriend and former actress Maheep Sandhu in 1997. The couple have two children, Shanaya and Jahaan Kapoor.^[23]

Filmography

Films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1995	Prem	Shantanu/Sanjay Verma	Acting debut
	Raja	Raja Patangwala
	Kartavya	Karan Singh
1996	Beqabu	Raja Verma
1997	Mohabbat	Gaurav M. Kapoor
	Auzaar	Yash Thakur
	Zameer: The Awakening of a Soul	Kishan
	Mere Sapno Ki Rani	Vijay Kumar
1999	Sirf Tum	Deepak
2001	Chhupa Rustam: A Musical Thriller	Raja/ Nirmal Kumar Chinoy	Dual role
2002	Koi Mere Dil Se Poochhe	Dushyant
	Soch	Raj Matthews
	Shakti: The Power	Shekhar	[24]
2003	Qayamat: City Under Threat	Abbas Ramani
	Darna Mana Hai	Sanjay
	Kal Ho Naa Ho	Abhay (Cameo)
	LOC Kargil	Maj. Deepak Rampal, 17 JAT
2004	Jaago	Shrikant
	Julie	Rohan
2005	Anjaane – The Unknown	Aditya Malhotra
2006	Unns: Love...Forever	Rahul Malhotra	[25]
2007	Dosh
	Om Shanti Om	Himself
2009	Luck By Chance	Ranjit Rolly
	Kirkit	I.M. Romeo
2010	Prince	CBI Officer Ali Khan
2014	Kahin Hai Mera Pyar	Rahul Kapoor
2015	Shaandaar
	Mumbhaii – The Gangster
2017	Mubarakan	Avtar Singh Bajwa	Cameo
2018	Lust Stories	Salman	Anthology film
2019	Seetharama Kalyana	Doctor Shankar	Kannada film
	Mission Mangal	Sunil Shinde	Supporting role
	The Zoya Factor	Vijayendra Singh Solanki
2020	Sleeping Partner		Short film
2023	Bloody Daddy	Hameed Shaikh	JioCinema release[26]
2024	Merry Christmas	Ronnie Fernandes
	Murder Mubarak	Rannvijay Singh	Netflix release[27]

Television series

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2003–2004	Karishma – The Miracles of Destiny	Amar	Recurring role
2017–2018	Dil Sambhal Jaa Zara	Anant Mathur	Lead role
2020–present	The Gone Game	Rajeev Gujral	Voot miniseries
2020–present	Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives	Himself
2021	The Last Hour	DCP Arup Singh	Amazon Prime series
2022	The Fame Game[28]	Nikhil More	Netflix series
2023	Made in Heaven	Ashok Malhotra	Amazon Prime series season 2

Producer

Year	Movie
2009	Kya Time Hai Yaar
2015	Tevar