An amazing story of a flawed personality
The stage is set for Rajkumar Hirani’s biopic on controversial actor Sanjay Dutt. And the director admitted that the film may go on floors before Sanjay is released from prison.
“I have got plenty of inputs from Sanju’s family. I’ve met not only his sisters, Priya and Namrata, but also his brother-in-law Kumar Gaurav and Paresh, a close friend of his who lives in the US,” says the Munnabhai director.
The idea came to Hirani when the actor was casually talking about his life. “I visited his home everyday for 25 days to hear every bit of this fascinating, eventful life story, only one-tenth of which is known. Drugs, underworld, relationships, his father, itna utar chadav hai ki poocho mat,” insists the awed filmmaker.
Hirani and Dutt have decided that they will not withhold any information from the audience. From his ex-wives, Richa Sharma and Rhea Pillai, to his present wife Manyata Dutt, will find a place in the story. “We want to tell it as it is, but aesthetically. We don’t want to hurt anybody,” he asserts.
Like all his films, this one too will be written by him and his best friend Abhijat Joshi, who has now relocated to Ahmedabad from the US, “I’ll never forget the day when he asked Vidhu Vinod Chopra if he could work on Lage Raho Munnabhai, the man is special,” Hirani smiles fondly.
Confirming that Ranbir Kapoor will play Sanjay, he says the actor did not take long to say ‘yes’ to the role. So will Ranbir have to grow his hair to look like Sanjay from Rocky and Vidhaata? That draws a laugh, “When you get sucked into a character and story, you don’t need to look like the man.”
Hirani has a special bond with Sanjay, which developed over their two collaborations, Munnabhai MBBS and Lage Raho Munnabhai. “Jo bhi tha, woh late aata tha, daaru peeta tha, but deep down there is an honest child inside Sanju,” he maintains. He adds that the actor trusts him implicitly with his story, so does his wife Manyata, who often sat besides them, listening while her husband poured his heart out to the director. And Hirani takes a long pause when asked if Sanjay ever broke down during those 25 days? “I would say he was reflective,” he says, his voice dropping a little.
And was he candid about his premarriage days in front of her? “Yeah. Ab kahani sunani hai toh sunani hai.”
“Never look at anybody in black and white. Sanju’s biopic is an amazing, unbelievable story of a flawed personality. That man has suffered a lot,” signs off an emotional Hirani, who plans to shoot a large part of the film on real locations.
Courtesy Mumbai Mirror
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