It is good to be Mr. Sanjay Dutt, even great. I envy him greatly.
Is it because his father was the handsome Bollywood matinee idol, Sunil Dutt, who went on to become a Member of Parliament representing the Congress Party (his one mistake in an otherwise blemish-free life) ? Or because his mother was the ravishing Bollywood beauty Nargis Dutt ? Or for the reason that despite his erratic ways, he still gets plum roles ? Or that his movies turn out to be block-busters? Or - my personal favourite - because he gets to play romantic leads opposite the prettiest heroines half his age? Or, is it because despite leading a dissolute life on and off-screen, he still gets a lot of sympathy all around?
In Bollywood pedigree matters. A lot. How else could you explain the phenomenal success of the Kapoor family (whose youngest female member looks like her grandfather in drag)? One member of the family made a name for himself entirely on the basis of making the most grotesque faces. Talent can be acquired through hard work and training. But pedigree comes by birth. We in India greatly respect inheritances like pedigree much more than the things that people acquire through hard work.
Younger Mr. Dutt inherited neither his mother's good looks nor his father's scruples. He was quite the ladies man which is understandable given Bollywood's predilection to conflate the reel life romance and real life romance. It is as if, in order to succeed on screen, one must have a string of romantic liaisons off-screen too. To Mr Dutt's credit - and the discredit of of the ladies linked to him - there was no lack of willing ladies to partner him off-screen. Good for him.
A biggish man, he also played a number of toughies on screen. At some point his on-screen persona crossed over into real life and as a result he was involved in many a fracas, which became the staple of Page Three and glossies devoted to movies and movie personalities. His collection of guns would have made him an honorary president of the American NRA if only they had heard of him. Not content with guns that can shoot one bullet at a time, he also started collecting weapons that could shoot hundreds of bullets a minute.
His father was of course distressed, the poor man, for he lived a simple and private life. I am not sure if he collected anything, especially ex-girlfriends, ex-wives or guns. It is quite understandable therefore that he did not cast an indulgent eye on the goings on in his son's life. Once he went so far as to say that his son had fallen into bad company. Clearly he loved his son, but apparently not enough to smack him across his cheeks and read the riot act. The son in any case had independent means to indulge his fascination with and for guns and gals.
The said bad company, it seems, included certain underworld dons on the run from Indian police and resident in Dubai who supposedly bombed half of Mumbai one day in the early 'nineties, allegedly for a hefty fee from Pakistani intelligence. It is unlikely that junior Mr.Dutt ever went on a Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, but it was later established that he did make many trips to pay obeisance to the underworld dons ensconced in Dubai, out of reach of Indian Law Enforcement. It is natural that at this time that the reader is confused as to the religious affiliations of junior Mr.Dutt. It seems he himself was, and kept switching allegiance depending on which affiliation was advantageous.
This is where it all gets murky, and will probably remain murky for ever. Perhaps due to his feelings of hurt following the destruction of the so-called Babri Masjid by Hindu mobs, or perhaps owing to his love of assault weapons, he conspired with the underworld dons to land and distribute substantial quantities of arms and explosives. Clearly the type and quantity of the load were inconsistent with duck-shooting or Diwali fireworks. He is said to have lent his name to the operation which the police allege resulted in the extra-large consignment getting through and getting distributed as planned by the miscreants.
Thanks to our fascination with all things Bollywood as also our inability to bring any trial to speedy conclusion, it has only taken 20 years since junior Mr. Dutt was first arraigned for having helped miscreants, (this was full 8 years before 9/11 and therefore the term "terrorists" hadn't been invented, never mind the act itself and the loss of lives) to find him guilty and award punishment. Pedigree also helped. I am not sure if Senior Mr.Dutt actively helped pervert or at least delay the course of justice, but given his popularity and political affiliations this cannot be ruled out. What we do know is that despite the Police's valiant and persistent efforts to lose the case, the courts found Junior guilty of having helped the "miscreants" ("terrorism" come into being only on 9/11, remember?).
Sentencing has only taken two decades. After all, there are important factors to consider involving ordinary citizens - they were awaiting the next movie featuring junior Mr. Dutt in a leading role. There were tens of billions of rupees riding on movies featuring Dutt junior. Various governments since then have been loathe to disappoint the people by putting him behind bars. In the interregnum not only was junior free, but he also released two wildly popular movies featuring him in the lead role as a medical school prankster and general do-gooder not to mention stealer of the heart of the fairest. Suffice it to say since then the ambition of every Indian male has been to become in real life the person Mr Dutt's played on screen.
On screen, he cures incurable ailments and deepest sorrow with a hug, fights the medical school establishment at the risk of being "rusticated" (expelled in ordinary English) romances the daughter of the Med-school Dean, finds time to get drunk every day, aces the exams (with some illegal help of course) and even has a conversation with Mahatma Gandhi's ghost in the library. In between he helps mend broken hearts, students beat the Dean's strict disciplinary regime, a poor girl get married to a well-to-do groom against his family's wishes, a boy express his feelings for a girl, avert a suicide, and performs all manners of miracles. He however does not get sainthood as he does not cure a cancer patient by placing a blessed medallion on her navel - in any case he was not a Catholic.
In real life he successfully evades jail term for two decades. Now he enjoys the support of entire Bollywood as well as multi-partisan legislators. They all want he should be let go.
All because he had a conversation with the ghost of Gandhi - Mahatma, not Rajiv.
Is it because his father was the handsome Bollywood matinee idol, Sunil Dutt, who went on to become a Member of Parliament representing the Congress Party (his one mistake in an otherwise blemish-free life) ? Or because his mother was the ravishing Bollywood beauty Nargis Dutt ? Or for the reason that despite his erratic ways, he still gets plum roles ? Or that his movies turn out to be block-busters? Or - my personal favourite - because he gets to play romantic leads opposite the prettiest heroines half his age? Or, is it because despite leading a dissolute life on and off-screen, he still gets a lot of sympathy all around?
In Bollywood pedigree matters. A lot. How else could you explain the phenomenal success of the Kapoor family (whose youngest female member looks like her grandfather in drag)? One member of the family made a name for himself entirely on the basis of making the most grotesque faces. Talent can be acquired through hard work and training. But pedigree comes by birth. We in India greatly respect inheritances like pedigree much more than the things that people acquire through hard work.
Younger Mr. Dutt inherited neither his mother's good looks nor his father's scruples. He was quite the ladies man which is understandable given Bollywood's predilection to conflate the reel life romance and real life romance. It is as if, in order to succeed on screen, one must have a string of romantic liaisons off-screen too. To Mr Dutt's credit - and the discredit of of the ladies linked to him - there was no lack of willing ladies to partner him off-screen. Good for him.
A biggish man, he also played a number of toughies on screen. At some point his on-screen persona crossed over into real life and as a result he was involved in many a fracas, which became the staple of Page Three and glossies devoted to movies and movie personalities. His collection of guns would have made him an honorary president of the American NRA if only they had heard of him. Not content with guns that can shoot one bullet at a time, he also started collecting weapons that could shoot hundreds of bullets a minute.
His father was of course distressed, the poor man, for he lived a simple and private life. I am not sure if he collected anything, especially ex-girlfriends, ex-wives or guns. It is quite understandable therefore that he did not cast an indulgent eye on the goings on in his son's life. Once he went so far as to say that his son had fallen into bad company. Clearly he loved his son, but apparently not enough to smack him across his cheeks and read the riot act. The son in any case had independent means to indulge his fascination with and for guns and gals.
The said bad company, it seems, included certain underworld dons on the run from Indian police and resident in Dubai who supposedly bombed half of Mumbai one day in the early 'nineties, allegedly for a hefty fee from Pakistani intelligence. It is unlikely that junior Mr.Dutt ever went on a Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, but it was later established that he did make many trips to pay obeisance to the underworld dons ensconced in Dubai, out of reach of Indian Law Enforcement. It is natural that at this time that the reader is confused as to the religious affiliations of junior Mr.Dutt. It seems he himself was, and kept switching allegiance depending on which affiliation was advantageous.
This is where it all gets murky, and will probably remain murky for ever. Perhaps due to his feelings of hurt following the destruction of the so-called Babri Masjid by Hindu mobs, or perhaps owing to his love of assault weapons, he conspired with the underworld dons to land and distribute substantial quantities of arms and explosives. Clearly the type and quantity of the load were inconsistent with duck-shooting or Diwali fireworks. He is said to have lent his name to the operation which the police allege resulted in the extra-large consignment getting through and getting distributed as planned by the miscreants.
Thanks to our fascination with all things Bollywood as also our inability to bring any trial to speedy conclusion, it has only taken 20 years since junior Mr. Dutt was first arraigned for having helped miscreants, (this was full 8 years before 9/11 and therefore the term "terrorists" hadn't been invented, never mind the act itself and the loss of lives) to find him guilty and award punishment. Pedigree also helped. I am not sure if Senior Mr.Dutt actively helped pervert or at least delay the course of justice, but given his popularity and political affiliations this cannot be ruled out. What we do know is that despite the Police's valiant and persistent efforts to lose the case, the courts found Junior guilty of having helped the "miscreants" ("terrorism" come into being only on 9/11, remember?).
Sentencing has only taken two decades. After all, there are important factors to consider involving ordinary citizens - they were awaiting the next movie featuring junior Mr. Dutt in a leading role. There were tens of billions of rupees riding on movies featuring Dutt junior. Various governments since then have been loathe to disappoint the people by putting him behind bars. In the interregnum not only was junior free, but he also released two wildly popular movies featuring him in the lead role as a medical school prankster and general do-gooder not to mention stealer of the heart of the fairest. Suffice it to say since then the ambition of every Indian male has been to become in real life the person Mr Dutt's played on screen.
On screen, he cures incurable ailments and deepest sorrow with a hug, fights the medical school establishment at the risk of being "rusticated" (expelled in ordinary English) romances the daughter of the Med-school Dean, finds time to get drunk every day, aces the exams (with some illegal help of course) and even has a conversation with Mahatma Gandhi's ghost in the library. In between he helps mend broken hearts, students beat the Dean's strict disciplinary regime, a poor girl get married to a well-to-do groom against his family's wishes, a boy express his feelings for a girl, avert a suicide, and performs all manners of miracles. He however does not get sainthood as he does not cure a cancer patient by placing a blessed medallion on her navel - in any case he was not a Catholic.
In real life he successfully evades jail term for two decades. Now he enjoys the support of entire Bollywood as well as multi-partisan legislators. They all want he should be let go.
All because he had a conversation with the ghost of Gandhi - Mahatma, not Rajiv.
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