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“He is a good man. We want him back.” |
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| By Behindwoods
News Bureau. |
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August 02, 2007 |
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The Sanjay Dutt arrest. How Bollywood
reacts?
Sanjay Dutt sentenced to six years in
jail for alleged involvement in the
93 serial blasts case. Rightly or wrongly,
this is not the place to dwell upon
the just nature or otherwise of the
sentence. Dutt and his lawyers are most
certainly moving for an appeal in the
Supreme Court.
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This
article makes no attempt at passing any judgment
on the verdict of the judiciary of the country.
The law has taken its course and that has to be
accepted with respect. This is about how Bollywood
reacts to the arrest and banishing to confinement
of the man they lovingly call Sanju Baba.
Sanjay Dutt’s popularity is not something
that can be measured at face value or by his pulling
power at the box office. He is by no measure the
number one actor of Bollywood nor has he ever claimed
to be one, even when he landed huge hits like Munna
Bhai and its sequel. But his popularity within the
industry is more than that an average viewer might
know or imagine. No one who knows him has ever believed
or even now believes that he had ever in any way
knowingly got himself involved in any act that might
put the lives of large number of people in danger.
Most of you might not remember this, but a few months
back when his sentence was about to be delivered
a large number of big stars from the film industry
had taken a day off from their schedules and taken
to the road in a show of support to Sanjay. Finally,
Sanjay himself had to thank the industry for the
support and asked them to abstain from any further
demonstrations. That time the act of the industry
had become a subject of debate in the legal circles
of India. Many senior lawyers believed that the
act could have served in distorting the judgment
of the judge in question especially because of the
number of popular faces involved in the demonstration.
Dutt was eventually cleared of any charges under
the TADA act. But that certainly would not have
been because of the support shown by the industry.
Saying otherwise would be an insult to Sanjay and
the Indian judiciary.
This time round, when he was under trial under the
Arms act and judgment was round the corner the industry
did show support, but not in a manner as evident
as before. They seemed to believe that their dear
friend would convince the court about his innocence.
Days before the verdict there were special articles
in some newspapers where many stars spoke highly
of Sanjay and how good a human being he was. Among
them were Arshad Warsi, Zayed Khan and Vidya Balan.
What they said might have been from the bottom of
their hearts, out of true concern for their friend
and colleague. But then, six years in prison was
what the court decided.
The effect this had on the industry is not evident
at first sight. But the number of films in the making
and being planned with Sanjay Dutt’s involvement
is not few. Munna Bhai Chale America being the most
important among them. The producers are worried,
understandably as according to trade pundits, about
80-100 crores are riding on him. But more importantly
the industry doesn’t want one among them to
languish in prison. The premier show of Naya Daur,
a classic that released few decades back and is
now being re-released in color starring the legendary
Dilip Kumar and Vaijayanthi Mala was to be held
in Mumbai on Wednesday. The grand premier of this
movie was called off. Whatever the law of the land
thinks, the film industry is undivided in its opinion.
‘He is a good man. We want him back.’ |
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