Sanju, the biopic based on Sanjay Dutt, particularly drew attention to his lesser-known best friend character called ‘Kamli’ or Kamlesh in the film. Well, the real life buddy is an NRI guy called Paresh Ghelani who happens to be Dutt’s close friend.
Paresh is based in Los Angeles, though he had initially moved to Chicago with his family. He is a businessman and philanthropist; and has been a part of many companies like Moon Express, Radimmune and XPrize. A serial entrepreneur, he has been a part of these companies that are geared towards social awareness and environmental protection. Paresh along with Ratan Tata and another entrepreneur called Naveen Jain bought XPRIZE foundation to India, to resolve India’s socio-economic problems like sanitation, health, women’s safety, potable water, waste management; etc. He is also the chairman of DTV Motor Corporation.
Paresh Ghelani has been a person who has let his work speak for him. His own motto is “ Work Hard in Silence and Let Success be Your Noise”. His personality is poles apart from Bollywood’s enfant-terrible Sanjay Dutt who is now relatively mellowed down compared to his younger self. But both of them are known to be humble in their own way.
Paresh and Dutt have been friends since early teens, ever since they met in New York. The two of them bonded over love for music; he was there for him when he would grapple with drug addiction. Even though Sanjay Dutt was in India, and he was in the US, the two of them would be in touch and Paresh would do everything possible to see his friend was doing fine.
Paresh Ghelani and Sanjay Dutt have contrasting personalities and it is beautiful to see them complement each other. The two are known to go on brotherly-bonding trips whenever time permits. Though Dutt is the older of the two, he respects Paresh as a brother and best friend.
When Sanjay Dutt was released from jail, Paresh Ghelani had flown from US to meet his friend. When the Dutts celebrated the star’s release at Kumar Gaurav (Dutt’s brother-in-law)’s house, Paresh Ghelani was seated on the actor’s lap, more as a sign of warm camaraderie rather than lack of space in the car. It is also said that Vicky Kaushal’s character who is primarily based on Paresh Ghelani, is also an amalgamation of Sanju’s other friends like film distributor Raj Bansal, Ajay Marwah and Pradeep Sinha.
Sanjay Dutt’s friend in Sanju – Paresh Ghelani (Kamli)