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Dutt does a take on real life
A patriot to the core, veteran actor Sunil Dutt feels working with son Sanjay Dutt was a professional experience.
The calmness that can soothe the most ruffled feathers and has worked during the Sadbhavana walk he undertook in the turbulent ’80s, makes Bollywood legend Sunil Dutt what he is today. The only weapons Dutt has in his armoury are compassion, humanity and belief that love can conquer all. “God has been kind to me in bringing so many hurdles in my life. Minus these problems I may not have become a good man. There are people who cross those hurdles and forget about them, but I didn’t and that has made me the person that I am today,” he says as he takes a trip down the memory lane and also reflects on his return to the silver screen with son Sanju in Munna Bhai MBBS.
“I have learnt a great deal from the difficulties I had faced in my life and while many forget their troubles after they get over them, I didn’t. It gave me the courage to carry on. I lost my father when I was five and saw how my brother, my sister and I were deprived of the love of a father. When I became a father, I gave in my very best. I didn’t know what a father was like and that made me give my children much more than I would have,” he says remembering his childhood. “We were zamindaars before Partition so there was no dearth of anything. But I always saw my mother working. After Partition when we came here I told my mother that I wanted to continue my studies. In Mumbai I stayed with a tailor and a barber, studying under a lamp post. The people I was staying with taught me a lot. When I made it big I wanted to give it all back to them, and that’s how I started with my projects for the common man, it was they who made me a star.”
Dutt is associated with numerous projects, and welfare institutions for cancer patients. He has also undertaken a campaign to generate awareness against drugs specially since he has seen Sanjay suffering. Dutt also takes great pride in the youth and feels that they can do amazing things for the country if their parents guide them properly.
As for his return to the silver screen, Dutt says, “I’m far away from the glamour and glitz of the industry. I signed this movie because Vidhu Vinod Chopra is dear to me. Moreover, it has an underlying social message. I have made many films on social themes and this is a contemporary movie where there is a message to put across. As for working with Sanjay, I’d only say one thing, in front of the camera both of us are actors doing justice to our respective roles. We aren’t exchanging any favours, you forget the relationship and simply focus on giving in your very best. People will really like it, it’s a fun movie that comes with a very real theme. The youth of the country needs direction. They may be talented but need to be told where to go, and the film director has tried to express this in a very subtle way.”
