Three days after Sanjay was arrested in the Bombay blasts case, the late Sunil Dutt, in a rare interview, spoke about his distress, his wife Nargis and his son.
By Ajith Pillai
Let’s rewind to April 22, 1993. I am waiting in the visitors’ room of veteran film star, Sunil Dutt, at his Pali Hill residence. And running through my mind was this thought—why had the gods showered so much sorrow and anguish on a man who least deserved it? Twelve years ago, his wife, noted actress Nargis, had lost the battle against cancer. Then came his son Sanjay Dutt’s drug addiction. The road to recovery was slow but his father was with him, braving it out. Sanjay finally managed to stage a comeback in films and soon established himself as a star in his own right.
But just when his father heaved a sigh of relief, things suddenly went horribly wrong. Investigations by the police following the 1993 Bombay blasts alleged Sanjay’s links with underworld operators involved in the serial bombings.
According to their version, he not only acquired an automatic rifle from members of the mafia but also allowed them to temporarily store weapons to be used in the attacks in his garage. Sanjay was charged with possession of illegal arms and for having conspired in the bombings. He was arrested on April 19, 1993.
I was then the Bombay correspondent of The Pioneer and was asked to meet Sunil Dutt. It was an interview that I was not too keen on because the very thought of asking an anguished father ruthless and insensitive questions made me uncomfortable.
FATHER’S ANGUISH
The previous day, I had called Dutt Sahib to fix an appointment. He brusquely asked me to come the following morning. So there I was with my tape recorder. I knew Dutt Sahib because we were both part of an anti-drug abuse campaign in Bombay. He was surprisingly forthright in the sessions he shared with students in the colleges we visited. He talked of what he had to go through as a parent while his son struggled with his addiction. He spoke of the immense relief that overwhelmed him when news came from the rehab center in the US that Sanjay was out of the woods.
Though I had interacted with him, I had never written about him. Dutt Sahib was so humble, non-controversial and naturally non-descript, that he did not make for sensational news. But here he was the cynosure of so much attention because of his son. When I was finally ushered into the drawing room, he put me at ease by enquiring about the anti-drug abuse campaign. He said how important it was to spread awareness among the younger generation so that they do not go astray. He ruminated for a moment and then suddenly realized that I had perhaps not come to “talk about drugs” but was there because of his son’s arrest.
On cue, I switched on the tape recorder, but was stopped in my tracks. I was told that this was not a formal interview but an anguished father sharing his thoughts. He then spoke at length of the strange predicament he found himself in. He and his wife Nargis, Dutt Sahib underlined, were patriotic to their core. No one had ever questioned that. But now, Sanjay was being charged with conspiring against the state. “My boy has been foolish but I can’t believe he is anti-national—he may have acquired guns, but that was out of fear. I don’t think he is capable of being part of any conspiracy to attack the city that he loves.”
THREATENING CALLS
He was emotional but did not let himself be carried away. “If he is guilty, he must be punished. My son should not be spared but I have great faith in our judiciary. I know that the truth will eventually prevail. I take comfort in that thought. My courage comes from that belief,” he said.
He went on to elaborate on the circumstances that may have led to this situation. “There were several threatening calls that came to our house during the riots which deeply disturbed Sanjay. Then, there was my being heckled when I and Congress workers went to distribute relief among riot victims. But these were all minor incidents to which he should not have over-reacted. If he had come to me, I would have advised him to forget it, but he went to Hanif Kadawala and Samir Hingora (film producers and owners of Magnum Video) for help. They, I am now told, were part of the D Company.”
As I listened to Dutt Sahib, what struck me was how courageously he had taken the misfortune that had befallen him. He would often say at his anti-drug abuse campaigns that an addict and his parents have to first accept the fact they have a problem on their hands. Acceptance, he said, is the first step towards finding a solution. Dutt Sahib was now practicing what he had been preaching. Sharing, he always maintained, lessened the burden. I was sure he must have gone over the same ground that he was going over with me with several others.
UNFULFILLED WISH
Dutt Sahib somehow felt that his son’s troublesome links were connected with his dalliance with drugs. The drug problem, he said, had started while Sanjay was in school at Sanawar but took a turn for the worse after he joined college in Bombay and dropped out after the first year. It was the underworld that peddled drugs like heroin and those early links perhaps continued to haunt his son. Also, being from a filmy khandan, the mafia may have been enamored by Sanjay—after all, he was Sunil Dutt and Nargis’ son. In any case, he said, in the Bombay before the riots and the blasts, many in the film fraternity patronized the dons who produced films and promoted their favorite actors.
I heard him out and then said I had a little problem of my own in which he could perhaps help. I had been assigned by my paper to do an interview-based story but all that he had told me so far was not to be quoted. So what could I possibly write? He mulled over this and came up with a solution. Could I go over the quotes that I would be attributing to him? “Some things are sensitive at this point. You can write about them after the trial is over,” he said.
I must say I was overwhelmed by his generosity and sensitivity. When the judgment in the 1993 Bombay blasts was finally delivered by the Supreme Court in March 2013, eight years after Sunil Dutt’s death, Sanjay was found guilty of possessing illegal arms. But the apex court absolved him of all charges of acts of terrorism and conspiring against the state. Dutt Sahib would have been pleased with that.