Vishal Punjabi, who now heads The Wedding Filmer, has previously worked in Shah Rukh Khan's production house Red Chillies Entertainment. In a recent interview, he recalled how he was deported to Ghana and the superstar helped him return to India.
Vishal Punjabi, who is more famously known as The Wedding Filmer, has created wedding videos for celebrity couples such as Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone, and Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli. Vishal previously worked in Shah Rukh Khan's production house Red Chillies Entertainment before starting his own company The Wedding Filmer.
In a recent interview, Ghana-born Vishal recalled how unions were 'anti-Muslim' in the 2000s and would target people on Shah Rukh's sets due to the superstar's religion. He recalled how he was one of the persons who was targeted as he had overstayed his work visa in India. It was Shah Rukh himself who helped him get back to India after two years.
Speaking to Shivani Pau in her podcast, Vishal said, "I was on a Ghanaian passport on an Indian visa, and I overstayed my work visa, and I didn’t think it was a big deal. Lesson learnt. I figured it was just a visa, I’m not killing anyone or doing anything wrong. We were producing this massive campaign for Jet Airways, and I couldn’t go back home to renew the visa, so I overstayed. The unions at that time were very anti-Muslim, and Shah Rukh Khan is Muslim. They used to come to the sets and harass everyone, and that’s how they found out I wasn’t Indian."
Vishal added that he was set to direct Shah Rukh Khan and Priyanka Chopra together in a film but he was suddenly deported to Ghana, where he set up his own production house and made several ads. He continued how the events after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks led to his return to India. "The 26/11 attacks happened in Mumbai, and overnight, the government changed. The old minister was booted out, and a new guy came in, who was very well known to Shah Rukh. Pranab Mukherjee, the new Foreign Minister, looked at my case and said, ‘This is ridiculous, he doesn’t need to be deported, please bring him back’. He immediately signed my visa and cancelled my deportation", Vishal concluded.
Riteish Deshmukh's late father Vilasrao Deshmukh was the Chief Minister of Maharashta during the 26/11 attacks. He was replaced by Ashok Chavan few days after the Mumbai attacks. Pranab Mukherjee served as India's Minister of External Affairs from 2006 to 2009.
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