Kaizad Gustad (born 1968) is an Indian film director and

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

based in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

. He is best known for his 1998 comedy ''

Bombay Boys ''Bombay Boys'' is a 1998 Indian cult comedy film written and directed by the Indian director Kaizad Gustad. It follows the adventures of three young men in modern-day Mumbai (or Bombay). The boys are of Indian origin, but were all raised in the ...

.'' In his career as an author, he has written three books, ''Of No Fixed Address'' published in 1998 by HarperCollins, ''The Road to Mandalay'' and ''7 Storeys''.

Early life

Gustad was born in Bombay (now

) into a wealthy

Parsi Parsis () or Parsees are an ethnoreligious group of the Indian subcontinent adhering to Zoroastrianism. They are descended from Persians who migrated to Medieval India during and after the Arab conquest of Iran (part of the early Muslim con ...

family. He has an older brother and a younger sister. He grew up on a farm in the outskirts of

Wadi Wadi ( ar, وَادِي, wādī), alternatively ''wād'' ( ar, وَاد), North African Arabic Oued, is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some instances, it may refer to a wet ( ephemeral) riverbed that contains water on ...

, a town in the Kalaburagi district of

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Kar ...

, where his father and grandfather owned cinema theaters and a stone quarrying business. He first attended the Cathedral and John Connon School in Bombay and then studied at

St. Paul's School, Darjeeling St. Paul's School is an independent boarding school for boys in the town of Darjeeling, West Bengal, India. It is known as "Eton of the East" because it is thought to follow the similar cultural and traditional values of Eton College. St. Paul' ...

. At the age of sixteen, he moved along with his family to Sydney, Australia. He later attended

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, ...

Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, Tisch is a training ground for artists, scholars of the a ...

to study film. At the age of 18, Gustad left home and started traveling to different parts of the world. He kept a diary on his travels and called it "Of No Fixed Address," in reference to the fact that he had no fixed address for three years. He used this diary as the basis for his book of short stories entitled ''Of No Fixed Address,'' which was published in 1998.

Filmography

Bombay Boys

At 28, Gustad wrote and directed his debut feature film Bombay Boys. It starred

Naseeruddin Shah Naseeruddin Shah (born 20 July 1950) is an Indian actor. He is notable in Indian parallel cinema. He has also starred in international productions. He has won numerous awards in his career, including three National Film Awards, three Filmfare ...

, Naveen Andrews and Tara Deshpande among others. It was a break out commercial and critical cult success, paving the way for independent cinema in India. It also travelled to several film festivals worldwide and premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 1998, followed by the Vancouver and London Film Festivals. The film was nominated for best film at Verzaubert,

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

Boom

Gustad's next film as writer and director was Boom, which had an ensemble cast like

Amitabh Bachchan Amitabh Bachchan (; born as Amitabh Shrivastav; 11 October 1942) is an Indian actor, film producer, television host, occasional playback singer and former politician known for his work in Hindi cinema. He is regarded as one of the most succe ...

Zeenat Aman Zeenat Khan (born 19 November 1951), better known as Zeenat Aman, is an Indian actress and former fashion model. She first received recognition for her modelling work, and at the age of 19, went on to participate in beauty pageants, winning both ...

Jackie Shroff Jaikishan Kakubhai Shroff (born 1 February 1957), popularly known as Jackie Shroff, is an Indian actor and former model. He has been in the Bollywood industry for over four decades, and , has appeared in over 220 films in 13 languages namely Hi ...

Gulshan Grover Gulshan Grover (born 21 September 1955) is an Indian actor and producer who has appeared in over 100 films. He is popularly known as the "Bad Man" of Bollywood because of his ability to create an impact with his negative roles in films. Early ...

, with the debut of supermodels Padma Lakshmi, Madhu Sapre and

Katrina Kaif Katrina Kaif (; born Katrina Turquotte; 16 July 1983) is a British actress who works in Hindi-language films. One of the highest-paid actresses in India, she has received accolades, including four Screen Awards and four Zee Cine Awards, in ...

. It was released worldwide.

Later films

Gustad's third film, Bombil and Beatrice, was a British arthouse film made in English, and his fourth and latest offering was

Jackpot Jackpot or Jackpot! may refer to: * A prize, such as a progressive jackpot * Gardena jackpots, a poker variant * Jackpot, Nevada, a community on the Nevada–Idaho state border Comics * Jackpot (comics), several comic book characters * ''Jack ...

, a film set in a casino in Goa, starring

Sunny Leone Karenjit Kaur Vohra (born May 13, 1981), known by her stage name Sunny Leone (), is a Canadian-American model and actress in the American and Indian film industries. She is a former pornographic actress. She was born in Canada to an Indian S ...

and Naseeruddin Shah. The premiere of Jackpot was held at PVR Cinemas in Juhu, Mumbai, and was attended by Shah Rukh Khan. It was released worldwide.

Incidents

In May 2010, Gustad was found guilty of negligence leading to the death of Nadia Khan, an assistant producer working on the set of his film Mumbai Central. Khan was struck by a train near Mumbai's Mahalaxmi station during shooting in May 2004.

Personal life

Gustad dated Miss World Diana Hayden in 1998, during the release of Bombay Boys. In January 2004, he married Alexandra Ritt, an American woman. He has two sons, Zahaan and Zakary.

References

External links

* *
Kaizad Gustad
at

Kinopoisk Kinopoisk (russian: Кинопоиск, a portmanteau of "cinema" and "search") is a Russian online database of information related to films, TV shows including cast, production team, biographies, plot summaries, ratings, and reviews. Since 2018 ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gustad, Kaizad Film directors from Mumbai Parsi people from Mumbai 1968 births Living people St. Paul's School, Darjeeling alumni Tisch School of the Arts alumni 20th-century Indian film directors