“Whenever my wife and I used to pass via Jaslok, she used to tell me with tears in her eyes that a day should come in India when even the poor will be able to get medical aid free of charge”

By Jyothi Venkatesh

Today’s generation may known him only as the father of actor Sanjay Dutt, but Sunil Dutt was not just the father of Sanjay Dutt, but also an actor, producer and director and also a seasoned politician. He served as the Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports in the Manmohan Singh government. His daughter Priya Dutt is a former Member of Parliament while his daughter Namrata Dutt has been married to Kumar Gaurav, the actor-son of Rajendra Kumar. In 1968, he was honored by the Padma Shri by the Government of India. Duttsaab who was born on 6^th June, 1929 had passed away on 25^th May, 2006, exactly 14 years ago. If he were alive today, he would have turned 91.To commemorate his birthday, we at bollyy.com and Mayapuri, reproduce this interview taken of SUNIL DUTT by JYOTHI VENKATESH, which appeared in the now-defunct weekly Current dt 25 July 1981, exactly 39 years ago.

I miss Duttsaab’s presence today in our midst because there is hardly any star of his caliber and generosity. Though he was quite senior to me, we used to meet once in a blue moon. In fact, it was he who very strictly told me when I was working with Hotel Oberoi Sheraton as an Accounts Supervisor that if I wanted to pursue freelance journalism, it was necessary that I should quit my job and concentrate on journalism full time because sailing in two boats would not be conducive to me.

When his son Sanjay Dutt was all set to make his debut in films with his directorial venture Rocky, it was Duttsaab again who had told me to meet Sanjay at his bungalow in Bandra and interview him. And when Sanjay was sleeping under the spell of drugs, it was his mother and Duttsaab’s wife actress Nargis to whom I had complained that though I had taken a half day leave from my job and come for her son’s interview, he was not ready to get up. It was Nargisji who woke him up and reprimanded him and made him give an interview to me- his first ever in his career.

I was a permanent fixture at every party of his at his bungalow, when Duttsaab used to tell me fondly that I could afford to drink scotch whisky since I was very young then but once I turned 50, I should give up drinking whisky and start having wine, since wine was good for the heart. Though I turned 50 long back, I still drink whisky. Sorry Duttsaab

When the venue of the International Film Festival of India was selected as Goa by the government of India,, I remember Duttsaab asking me at a party whether I would cover it for my then paper- Afternoon Despatch & Courier. When I told him yes, he asked me whether the paper would spend on my stay at Goa, I said I was supposed to spend my own money, Duttsaab who was the Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports in the Manmohan Singh government, asked me to meet him in his office the very next day and went out of the way to write a letter to the Sports Ministry asking them to allot a room to me at the Youth Hostel in Goa on a subsidized rent of just Rs 100 per day which I could afford easily. I stayed at the Hostel for 10 days and covered the International Film Festival extensively.

I remember when I had met him after the death of Mrs Nargis Dutt, over coffee at his office in Bandra, Duttsaab had said, “I have so many things to do which I had left unattended earlier when I did not know what was happening around me. Though I confess I do feel lost because there is a vacuum in my life after Nargis’s death. In now realize that I should now devote time to do all those little things which I had wanted to do-settle deals and negotiations.

After Sanjay Dutt became a popular star at the box office, Duttsaan had told me.“I am happy at the response my son Sanjay has got at the box office. I have asked him to sign only a few selected films because in this industry what matter not quantity but quality. Only if you think you can do enough justice to a role you should accept it, I told him. Dutt Saab has already planned two films with Sunjay Dutt as the leading man. He will be directing both the films. One of them will star Sunjay, Padmini Kolhapure, Mithun Chakraborty and South’s Sapna, another model turned heroine.

Under the aegis of the Ajanta Arts banner, Duttsaab wanted to make every year at least one good film as a tribute to Nargis. “Thankfully my banner is sound and safe because my last film Nehle Pe Dehla had turned out to be a super duper hit. Take it from me; I would not make an art film without keeping an eye on the box office. A film should be commercially viable and in a position to recover its cost of production. Why should a film be made just for the sake of leaving it in the safe custody of the Archives? When I pledge to make at least one film every year as a mark of tribute to Nargis, my responsibility is increasing threefold.

“I plan to make a trust in the name of Nargis. The proceedings of every film that I make will be credited to the trust which will undertake the job of fulfilling Nargis’s ambition- that is bettering the lives of spastic children. I have told the stars who would be working in my film that I wouldn’t be paying them at all. Most of them have agreed to work for me without charging me any money. And why should any star agree to work free of charge for me? Some of the stars would accept less than half of what they are charging outside for their services.

On May 3, 1982, my wife’s first death anniversary, I plan to release the first of my planned films. This is about a widower and his daughter who is afflicted with cancer. I had planned the project even before Nargis died. It is a quirk of irony that I will be launching the film after my wife passed away. Whenever my wife and I used to pass via Jaslok, she used to tell me with tears in her eyes that a day should come in India when even the poor will be able to get medical aid free of charge. Why should a poor man be deprived of an opportunity to be treated for cancer? A disease doesn’t select its clients. I want to make a hospital for the spastic children. It was my wife’s pet project.”