Hansal Mehta opens up about his decision to avoid son Jai Mehta after 'Gangs of Wasseypur' set accident

Filmmaker Hansal Mehta opened up about a distressing incident that occurred on the sets of Anurag Kashyap's 'Gangs of Wasseypur', leaving his son, Jai Mehta, traumatized. Despite several attempts to bring him back, Hansal refrained from calling his son back to the set, respecting his son's strength amidst the trial.
In a conversation with his son Jai Mehta on Creator x Creator, filmmaker Hansal Mehta reminisced about Jai's early days as an assistant on the set of 'Gangs of Wasseypur'.Hansal recalled a distressing incident during the shoot when a fellow assistant tragically passed away after an accident, reflecting on the challenges they faced during that time. This experience marked one of Jai's earliest forays into the film industry, preceding his directorial debut with 'Scam 1992' and his recent webseries, 'Lootere'.
While talking to Jai, Hansal asked whether he is even aware of the conversation he had with Anurag when one of his first AD's passed away after an accident. The young AD, who passed away happened to be Jai's roommate. Therefore, Hansal further shared how Jai made a phone call to him when the boy had fallen off and he was going to the hospital with him. During that time Anurag had also called Hansal Mehta and informed him about Jai's mental condition. "Anurag called me and said, 'Jai is traumatised, he is crying and is in a very bad shape,'" recounted Hansal Mehta during his conversation with his son Jai Mehta.
However, Anurag proposed an alternative approach that shifted Hansal's perspective on the emotionally draining circumstance. "Anurag said, 'Sir, if you call him back home, he will remain a boy, if you let him stay here he will become a man. We'll take care of him; we're all here.'
"It was a challenging moment for me as a father because you were consistently reaching out to me, expressing your desire to return, and I began avoiding you," Hansal recounted.
Before his involvement in Gangs of Wasseypur, Hansal disclosed that he had arranged for Jai to meet Karan Johar for potential work on Kajol-Kareena Kapoor's 'We Are Family'. However, Jai opted to collaborate with Anurag, influenced by his recent watching of 'Dev D'.