Meet Sumeet Saigal, A Rising Star Who Was Often Compared To Govinda

The late 80s and the 90s belonged to actor Govinda, who ruled the silver screen and the hearts of the audience. The star’s first release Ilzaam in 1986 was a huge hit, which was followed by Love 86 the same year. Soon after, he delivered more hits and went on to gain stardom and the status of a superstar. However, during the same era, there was another rising star who was mainly offered supporting roles and reportedly was compared to Govinda for his looks, Sumeet Saigal.

Sumeet Saigal marked his debut in 1987 with the multi-starrer Insaniyat Ke Dushman, which featured Dharmendra, Shatrughan Sinha, Raj Babbar, Smita Patil, Dimple Kapadia and Anita Raj. As per reports, when the actor entered the industry, his look and hairstyle were compared to Govinda’s. In the year 1988, a movie titled Tamacha featuring Jeetendra, Rajinikanth, Amrita Singh, Bhanupriya and Kimi Katkar was released. Sumeet Saigal was roped in for the supporting role. But, did you know that his role was initially offered to Govinda?

Reports say the makers of Tamacha wanted to cast Govinda, but the actor was busy at the time and had to reject the movie. The makers then approached Sumeet Saigal for his similarities with Govinda. After the release of the movie, reportedly, there were talks that if Govinda was unavailable for a certain movie, Sumeet could do it.

After Tamacha, Sumeet starred in many multi-starrers where he shared the screen with actors like Dev Anand, Sanjay Dutt, Mithun Chakraborty, Tariq Shah, Sunny Deol, Rishi Kapoor and others. He has acted in movies like Bahaar Aane Tak, Pati Patni Aur Tawaif, Gunaah, and Sauda to name a few. He was last seen in Samay Kheluchhi Chaka Bhaunri in 2002.

Sumeet Saigal married the niece of legendary actress Saira Banu, Shaheen in the year 1990. They have one daughter named Sayyesha, who marked her debut in Bollywood in 2015 with the movie Shivaay and shared the screen with Ajay Devgn. In 2003, the couple got divorced. Later, Sumeet tied the nuptial knot to Tabu’s sister Farah Naaz who was previously married to Vindu Dara Singh.