Happy birthday Sunil Dutt: 5 films in which we fell in love with you

His effervescence and friendliness was a measure of his humility, rare qualities that won him scores of friends and fans across generations. Undoubtedly, veteran actor and politician Sunil Dutt is one of those few personalities in Bollywood who's respected both for the characters he's played on screen and his helpful nature. Here, we list five movies where Sunil Dutt played memorable roles.

His effervescence and friendliness was a measure of his humility, rare qualities that won him scores of friends and fans across generations. Undoubtedly, veteran actor and politician Sunil Dutt is one of those few personalities in Bollywood who's respected both for the characters he's played on screen and his helpful nature.



Born in Jhelum (Pakistan), Dutt began his career with radio. He was a hugely popular voice of Radio Ceylon He made his acting debut with Railway Platform (1955). Two years later, he played Birju in Mehboob Khan's Mother India (1957): A film with which he not only made his mark in Indian films but also found his way to Nargis' heart, whom he married in 1958. The actor died of heart attack on May 25, 2005.



Sunil Dutt was honoured with the Padma Shri In 1968. He joined the Indian National Congress party in 1984 and was elected as Member of Parliament for five terms from the constituency of Mumbai North West.



With films like Saadhna, Sujata, Khandan, and Padosan, Sunil Dutt was one of the biggest stars of Hindi cinema in 50s and 60s. Here, we list five movies where Sunil Dutt played memorable roles:



1. Mother India

Sunil Dutt played Birju, Nargis's aggressive and violent son who ends up as a dacoit and gets killed by his own mother in this classic film directed by Mehboob Khan. The movie ran at Liberty Cinema, Mumbai for a year. Mother India was also India's first submission to Academy Awards in the foreign language category.

Sunil-Dutt-in-a-still-from-Munnabhai-MBBS

2. Yaadein

The 1964 film directed by Sunil Dutt himself, won him his first National Film Award for Best Feature Film. Sunil Dutt was the only actor throughout the fiilm where he played Anil, a man who suddenly finds his wife and son missing and believes they left him for his bad behaviour. Interestingly, Nargis played Dutt's wife and is only seen as a silhouette in the movie. The film also won the Filmfare Award for best movie.

3. Humraaz

The 1967 film saw Sunil Dutt along side Rajkumar as a man who finds his wife dead just he was starting to doubt her loyalty in the marriage. A thrilling chase ensues and Dutt beautifully plays the guilt-ridden husband in the movie directed by BR Chopra.

4. Padosan

The 1968 comedy film directed by Swaroop Kumar saw Sunil as a friend of Kishore Kumar who trains him in getting the love of his life. The movie remains one of the hilarious flicks Bollywood ever produced.

5. Munnabhi MBBS

Rajkummar Hirani's first film in his Munnabhai series saw Sunil playing dad to his real life son Sanjay Dutt. This was the last movie Sunil appeared in. The loving, yet strict father Sunil played in the movie is not something new but his acting prowess ensured the audience had a laugh riot watching the 2003 film.