Heat & Dutt

Actor, filmmaker, politician, family man… but above all a humanist. Sunil Dutt was way beyond his films, writes Farhana Farook

As a youngster, he witnessed the brutal reality of the Partition. But he didn’t allow hate to discolour his view. In fact, he remained an advocate of peace all his life. He hit stardom playing the negative Birju in Mother India and set the template for the bête noire in Hindi cinema. He then risked his own life and rescued Nargis from the fire on the set of the film. Later, he married her not because she was a superstar but because she was a super person. He put everything on hold to nurse her when she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Though emotionally broken, he played saviour to son Sanjay Dutt when his drug addiction was discovered after Nargis' passing away. He braved the trials and the incarceration that Sanjay underwent in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case with stoic strength. 58 Pali Hill, the home of the Dutts, was indeed privy to several heartbreaking moments through the decades.

Yet, Sunil Dutt was not someone who could be consumed by his own tragedies. His desire to contribute to the larger good couldn’t be stymied by his own despair. Helping NGOs for AIDS campaigns, betterment of slum-dwellers and sex-workers, reaching out to the jawans and riot victims, his allegiance towards the people was way bigger than his politics. He may have acted in over 100 films, but the lives he touched as a human being defy count. Remembering the man, the messiah…

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