Sanju, the movie based on Sanjay Dutt drew eyeballs to his close friend called ‘Kamli’ or Kamlesh in the film. The shy but affable character with heavy Gujju accent is Paresh Ghelani, a serial entrepreneur and philanthropist based in the US. He had arrived with his family in the US back in the 80s and settled in Chicago, before moving to Los Angeles.
Paresh Ghelani has been a part of companies with a social inclination like XPrize, Radimmune and Moon Express. In fact, he has been on the forefront of bringing the XPrize Foundation in India to raise awareness and resolve socio-economic problems in India like health, sanitation, women’s safety, education and waste management. His initiative is also shouldered by the likes of Ratan Tata and Naveen Jain. He is also the chairman of the premier motor company, DTV Motor Corporation.
While Sanjay Dutt is known to be boisterous and larger-than-life, Paresh Ghelani has a soft-spoken personality. What is similar about both of them is their honesty and humility. The two met when they were in their teens in New York and bonded over things like music, food and Indian culture. The real life Kamlesh or Paresh, as we should say, is known to let his works speak for him. He believes in working hard in silence and letting success be the noise.
Sanjay Dutt and Paresh Ghelani have also made it a point to stay in touch with each other, even though they stay continents apart. Ghelani has always been there in some form or the other to give his friend the moral support. He was also there when Dutt was released from jail in 2016. When Sanjay Dutt and his coterie of friends and family were going to over to brother-in-law Kumar Gaurav’s place to party over his release, Ghelani was sitting on Dutt’s lap, even though there was enough space in the car. Sanjay Dutt, the older of the two, looks up to Ghelani as a brother and confidante. They are known to travel together on brother-bonding tips in places like South Africa.
Vicky Kaushal has primarily played ‘Paresh Ghelani’ as Kamlesh, even though that character was also an amalgamation of many other real life characters and friends in Dutt’s life like Pradeep Sinha, Raj Bansal and Ajay Marwah.
Sanjay Dutt’s friend Paresh Ghelani ‘Kamli’ – Pictures
