Kaizad Gustad

Kaizad Gustad (born 1968) is an Indian film director and writer. He is best known for his 1998 comedy Bombay Boys and debut novel Of No Fixed Address.

Gustad was born in Bombay (now Mumbai) to a wealthy Parsi-Iranian family,^[1] and grew up in a farm in Wadi, a village in Karnataka, where father and grandfather owned cinema theatres. He studied in St. Paul's School, Darjeeling, and also attended the Cathedral and John Connon School in Bombay. He moved along with his family to Sydney at the age of sixteen. He attended New York University's film school.

Gustad led a Bohemian lifestyle when he started travelling from the age of 18 to different parts of the world and doing odd jobs like pizza delivery, bartender, and stripper.^[1] He kept a diary on his travels and called it "Of No Fixed Address" as he had no address for three years. He based this for his book of short stories Of No Fixed Address published 10 years later in 1998.^[2]

He collected money from friends, family and credit card companies to make his first full-length feature film Bombay Boys. He worked on the script for about eight months, and shot the film in 48 days.^[3] The film released in 1998 took four years to make.^[1]

Gustad has an older brother and a younger sister.^[2] He dated Diana Hayden for sometime before the release of Boom in 2003. In January 2004, he married American Alexandra Ritt.^[4] He has a son Zahaan.^[5]

Death of Nadia Khan and subsequent trial

On 25 May 2004, Gustad was shooting scenes for a new film called Bombay Central at the Mahalaxmi railway station in Mumbai. Nadia Khan, a British-Pakistani from London, who had been offered a position in the crew by Gustad himself, was hit by a train and killed. It was her very first day on the set and that she had been speaking into a walkie-talkie and cueing up the actors when the train hit her. It was alleged that Gustad had attempted to cover up the true nature of her death by telling the film crew to pass it off to the authorities as a road accident, but one of the crew told the truth to the police. It was also alleged that Gustad did not have permission to shoot at the platform and the track where the incident occurred. He was subsequently arrested with his assistants Ashish Udeshi and Hadley D'Mello ^[6] on the charges of manslaughter, negligence, and fabrication of evidence.^[7] He was later released on bail. On 25 May 2010, exactly six years after Khan's death, Gustad was found guilty of committing a "rash and negligent act" under Section 304-A of the Indian Penal Code. He was sentenced to a month in jail and fined Rs 75,000.^[8]

Filmography

• Jackpot (2013)
• Bombil and Beatrice (2007)
• Boom (2003)
• Bombay Boys (1998)
• Lost & Found (1995)
• Corner Stone Blues (1994)

References