When actor Sumeet Saigal who was tipped as the next Govinda, abruptly quit Bollywood and started a crore-worth empire

When actor Sumeet Saigal who was tipped as the next Govinda, abruptly quit Bollywood and started a crore-worth empire

The Hindi film industry has always been a graveyard of forgotten promises. For every superstar who survived the brutal tides of fame, there are dozens who arrived with noise, charm, and expectation, only to quietly disappear. One such name that once carried real buzz is Sumeet Saigal, an actor many believed could be the next Govinda.

Let’s rewind to the late 1980s and early 1990s, a time when Bollywood was hungry for fresh faces. Sumeet Saigal entered the scene in 1987 with Insaniyat Ke Dushman. He had the looks, the confidence, and a screen presence that instantly caught attention. While his debut film failed to impress critics or audiences, Sumeet didn’t vanish overnight. Instead, he kept showing up, film after film, slowly building a body of work that suggested potential.

Over the next few years, Sumeet featured in several commercially successful films such as Imaandaar, Param Dharam, Lashkar, Pati Patni Aur Tawaif, and Gunaah. These films did well, but the irony of his career was this: even when the films succeeded, the stardom never fully transferred to him. He was often cast alongside bigger names, sometimes in supporting roles, sometimes overshadowed by stronger star power.

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What kept him in the conversation, though, was his uncanny resemblance to Govinda. In an era when Govinda ruled the box office with his comic timing and mass appeal, Sumeet was repeatedly labelled as the next Govinda. The tag brought attention but also pressure. Expectations soared, comparisons became constant, and somewhere along the way, his individuality got lost in the noise.

By the mid-1990s, it became clear that the leading-man dream wasn’t materialising the way it was supposed to. Sumeet gradually stepped away from Bollywood’s spotlight. His last appearance as an actor came much later, in the 2002 film Samaya Kheluchhi Chaka Bhaunri, after which he chose to quit acting altogether.

But this is where his story takes a sharp turn.

Instead of clinging to nostalgia or chasing a comeback, Sumeet Saigal reinvented himself. After marrying actress Farah Naaz, Tabu’s elder sister, he entered the business side of cinema. He founded a production and distribution company called Sumeet Arts, focusing largely on dubbing films from regional languages into Hindi. It turned out to be a smart, forward-looking move.

Today, Sumeet Arts is reportedly a flourishing company, valued in crores, giving Sumeet the success and stability that acting never quite delivered. While he may have exited Bollywood as an actor, he never truly left the industry.

On the personal front, life also found its balance. Sumeet married Farah Naaz on June 20, 2003. It was the second marriage for both. Sumeet was earlier married to Shaheen Banu, with whom he has a daughter, Sayyeshaa Saigal. Farah, too, had been married to Vindu Dara Singh and has a son, Fateh Randhawa. Today, they live together as one blended family, far removed from the chaos of stardom.