Founder of The Wedding Filmer, Vishal Punjabi, has created bespoke videos for several high-profile celebrity weddings over the years, but before he began the company, he worked with Shah Rukh Khan at Red Chillies Entertainment. In an interview, he recalled how he first became acquainted with Shah Rukh in the 1990s, when the superstar wanted somebody to create his personal website. He later invited Vishal to join him at Red Chillies, but didn’t realise that Vishal was working in India illegally.
Appearing on Shivani Pau’s podcast, the Ghana-born Vishal recounted the story of how he was deported from India overnight, just as his career was about to take off in Bollywood. He said that he was found out because ‘unions’ at the time would reportedly target Muslims, which is why the crew on Shah Rukh’s set were routinely ‘harassed’. Two years later, it was Shah Rukh himself who helped Vishal secure a visa again.
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He 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 was deported, and banned from returning to India for 10 years. His career was just taking off, and he was in talks with Shah Rukh and Priyanka Chopra to direct them in a film. But before he knew it, he was in Ghana, with no idea how to proceed. He spent the next few years setting up a production business there, and filmed slick local advertisements. He continued, “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.”
Vilashrao Deshmukh was the Chief Minister of Maharashtra during the 26/11 attacks. He resigned some days later, and was replaced by Ashok Chavan. Pranab Mukherjee served as the Minister of External Affairs from 1995 to 1996, and then from 2006 to 2009. Vishal has created wedding videos for couples such as Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh, and Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli.
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