Actor-filmmaker Sanjay Khan’s life changed forever in 1989 when a massive fire broke out on the sets of The Sword of Tipu Sultan at Premier Studios in Mysore. The tragic incident, sparked by faulty firefighting systems and neglected safety protocols, claimed 52 lives and left Sanjay Khan with over 65% third-degree burns. The veteran star endured a harrowing recovery, undergoing 74 surgeries over the following years.In a heartfelt interview with Siddharth Kannan, Sanjay’s son, actor Zayed Khan, opened up about witnessing the trauma as a child and the resilience his father displayed in its aftermath.“I didn’t recognise him at first”“It was very tough because I was only 11 years old,” Zayed recalled. “I remember when he was finally brought to the hospital after a month—I was dying to see him. My mother said, ‘Go say hi.’ There were two beds in the ICU, both with burn victims. I passed the first bed thinking he was in the second, and suddenly, from behind, a hand raised and called out, ‘Zayed.’”What followed was a moment etched in Zayed’s memory forever. “At first, I didn’t recognize him. His head was swollen like a football, his skin literally melting into the sheets. He hadn’t even seen himself in the mirror yet. He held my hand and asked, ‘Zayed, are you scared?’ I couldn’t say a word. Then he said something impossible in that moment—‘Before you know it, I’ll build a better hospital than this so that people like me don’t have to come here… and you don’t have to see me like this. I’ll make Tipu Sultan again, and we’ll have a great time together, my son.’”Zayed said that while the doctors had given up hope, his father’s inner strength defied all odds. “He was made of steel—his soul and heart were something else entirely.”A triumphant return after 74 surgeriesTwo years later, Sanjay Khan proved the doubters wrong. “He got back on a horse after undergoing 74 surgeries,” Zayed revealed. “He completed Tipu Sultan, and then took me to Bangalore. He bought land there, handed me the first brick—the foundation brick—and asked me to name it. I named it Golden Palms. And later, he built a hotel there.”On the work front, Zayed Khan is currently gearing up for a comeback with the OTT film The Film That Never Was.
