Anuj Gulati on removing late actor Nitesh Pandey's portions from WingMan: 'We had to make the difficult decision'

Director Anuj Gulati rues dropping Nitesh Pandey’s subplot from WingMan, which was to mark the late actor’s last appearance on screen

Filmmaker Anuj Gulati’s WingMan began his festival run with screenings at London Indian Film Festival and River to River Florence Indian Film Festival and is all set to host a screening in Mumbai. While Shashank Arora fronts the quirky comedy that follows a call centre employee whose life spirals out of control after his girlfriend leaves him, it marks the last work of late Nitesh Pandey, who passed away of a heart attack in May 2023. “I truly enjoyed working with Nitesh. He embraced the ambiguity of his character. On set, he was warm and approachable, even spending some time writing his own script between set-ups, which speaks about his dedication to his work,” says the director, remembering the actor, who starred in the popular television show, Anupamaa, and several films, including Khosla Ka Ghosla (2006) and Om Shanti Om (2007). 

In WingMan, Pandey played the role of the protagonist’s older colleague. However, Gulati says in the final edit, he had to do away with the late actor’s portions. The director explains, “In the final round of editing, we had to make the difficult decision to remove the subplot about his character. We have retained his credit, as he was an integral part of the creative process. Nitesh’s character had his own arc, rekindling a connection with a high-school crush. In many ways, his journey paralleled the protagonist’s. Ultimately, we had to remove it as it repeated a thematic beat.”

The director is now set to take WingMan at some more international film festivals. “We did a festival run with the film’s longer cut. Over time, the movie found its right length,” adds Gulati.

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