Rajkumar Hirani’s Sanju, starring Ranbir Kapoor in the lead, has been widely appreciated ever since its release on June 29. The film has already earned Rs 145.41 crore in India in four days and it seems that within a week, it will cross the Rs 200 crore mark. While Ranbir’s portrayal of Sanju has won our hearts, the character of his friend Kamli played by Vicky Kaushal has also been applauded.

Kamli's character is based on Sanjay Dutt's friend, Paresh Ghelani aka Parya (fondly called by Sanjay) who lives in New York. PeepingMoon exclusively talked to Paresh’s cousin Jai Patel, who made several interesting revelations about close friends Sanju and Parya.

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Sanjay and Paresh met in New York around 31 years ago through a common friend and ever since Paresh has been on Sanju’s side through thick and thin. Jai also revealed that Sanjay is a big prankster and he even played a prank with Paresh once. Apparently, Paresh came home from a long trip and was tired due to jet lag and thus, went to the bathroom. When he woke up, he found out that in the night, everything has happened between Sanju and his girlfriend. The same scene has been depicted in the film with one of his girlfriends, Pinky.

He further revealed that Sanju is a fun person, who is fond of music and good food. The two have been friends for a long time and know everything about each other. They’ve even been to strip clubs together. When Paresh watched the film with Sanjay, he got very emotional and in fact, Sanjay was gauging his friend’s reaction when he watched the film.

Paresh was also close to Dutt Sahab (Sunil Dutt). Even in New York, he visited senior Dutt many times and supported him emotionally. Talking about his son, he used to tell Paresh, “Son, the most difficult thing is that even though you have everything, you can not do anything for your son. People will feel that I am not doing anything for my son.”

It was further revealed by Jai that Sanjay’s films -- Munnabhai, Sadak, and Shabd -- are Parya’s favorites. In fact in the film Sanju, the tea and vodka scene depicted also happened for real. When Sanjay Dutt was sad, his friend mixed tea and vodka and gave it to him to calm him down but when he heard the news of RDX at Sanju’s house, he left him.

Nonetheless, according to Parya, Dutt is the modern day Mahatma Gandhi. Jai also reiterated the fact that former US President Barack Obama indeed remembers Sanjay by the name of Munna Bhai, as was disclosed by writer Abhijat Joshi at the teaser launch of Sanju. 

The biopic made both these friends very emotional as their friendship has been beautifully transcended on celluloid. We only wish their bond grows stronger than ever!

Meanwhile, Jai will be seen in Torbaaz alongside Sanjay Dutt.

(As told by Paresh Ghelani's cousin Jai Patel to RJ Alok)

DESK: Gurpreet Kaur