Sanjay Dutt is the son of the late Bollywood legends Sunil and Nargis Dutt, Sanjay himself is now fast approaching 50 and has been acting for almost 30 years. He is probably the most underrated and underplayed superstar in bollywood history mainly because of the Indian media’s dislike of him. He debuted as an actor in Rocky which was directed by his father and followed it up with Vidhaata both films where superhits but it became known to all Sanjay was heavily addicted to drugs and was sent to a rehab clinic in the U.S. HE spent close to four years away from India as well as bollywood and was written off as a one off wonder and despised by the media who had already labelled him a disgrace.
A new director by the name of Mahesh Bhatt decided to cast him and his brother in law in Nam to everyone surprise and the music was already a phenomenon before its release which managed to drag the Indian public into cinema halls as even they had already branded Dutt as a disgrace and where ready to ridicule him, but to everyone’s surprise the film was out of this world in its time and is still an enjoyable film even 20 odd years on due to a knockout performance by Dutt as a man who leaves India for Dubai with aspirations to do something with his young life, the way he portrayed his character is admirable especially at such a young age(note most actors could never deliver a performance like Naam in their 20s) after Naam he was back on track and followed it up with many successful so-so films between 1986-91 although I would say J.P dutta’s Hathyar and Kabzaa are very underrated films and Dutt was superb in both, between these years he got married had a daughter then saw his wife die 2 months later of a brain tumor and then aslo lost custerdy of his doughter to her grandparants in a bitter court battle in the U.S.
Professionally In 1991 he had Sadak release that was mega mainly due to the performances and music of the movie he then followed it up with another awsome performance as a handicaped businessman/poet in Saajan it was a totaly different Dutt to what audiances had seen before and he cemented his position as bollywoods number 1 at that time. Between 91-93 he also had films such as thaanadar(remember taama taama song with madhuri) yodha and yalgaar. Then the bombay bomb blasts happened and he was arested and put behind bars while under trial with suspicians of being linked to the bombay underworld and anti national parties(terrorists etc) this was an absolute shock to the indian public and many began to see him as the spoilt wayward heartless son of indian icons(both his parents where model superstars and hugly respected by indian people around the world) few months later Khalnayak(villain) relased the movie was a thrilling experience he coicidently played a terrorist/gangster/thug and the movie managed to win him sympathy, this was the movie that professionally saved sanjay dutt dispite not having any releases for 4 years due to him being in jail and courts etc etc. In 1997 he came back with daud which was brutally savaged by the media he followed this up with dushaman although the film was successful all credit was given to kajol and according to many dutt was on his way out of the bollywood door.
In 1999 he had 3 hits in daag the fire, kartoos(although both are pathetic films) and hassena maan jeyagi( enjoyable comady also stars govinda and karisma kapoor) these proved dutt still had a fan following and then came Vaastav in diwali 99 the film went on to become the biggest hit of that year and resurected a now aged dutt back into the elite crop of heroes. Vaastav won him all the awards he could with the hindi film industry and was hailed as the greatest performance ever by screen legends Amitab bachan and Dilip kumar who admited even they wouldnt have been able to deliver such a performance in their prime. 2000-2003 saw Dutt appear in many movies most notibally mission kashmir( co-staring hritich roshan pritey and jakie but it was dutt who was on fire in this film as the 50+ year aged inspector who is involved in a deadly game of cat and mouse with his terrorist foster son played by hritick and Kaante( I recomend this to all) a bollywood inspired version of reservoir dogs and no! its not one of them cut and paste hollywood to bollywood type movies but an absolute entertaining desi version done with style and exceptional performances by Amitab bachan( 1of his best according to many) Sanjay dutt(steals the show one again in an essamble cast and Vaastav famed director Mahesh Manjreker( absolutly hilarius) along with kumar gourav, lucky ali and sunil shetty. He also had jodi No1 with govinda and its no feat matching it with bollywoods comic number 1 in a david dawan slapstick comady but dutt did just that although not a great movie by any means. Diwalli 2003 then saw Munnabhai Mbbs release a film that cudnt find any distributers and almost found itself stuck in the cans as many people involved in the movie business where wondering if Dutt still had what it takes to pull an audience as a solo hero so Sanjay and his father distributed the movie themselves and saw movie theaters flooded and the film became an instant classic with Munnabhai becoming a rage and in the process the film went on to win many awards.
2004-2007 saw dutt appear in many hits although many where multi starrers such as parineeta, dus, shootout at lochandwala, dhamaal etc etc his performance in musafir was hilarius and in shabd co-staring ashwaria rai he also delivered another stunning performance in an offbeat movie which has resulted in it being criminally underated. During this time he also revived his iconic role as munnbhai in lage raho and the film went on to break many records throughout India as well as winning him many awards. Sanjay dutt is now at a stage in his career where he has nothing more to prove to Indian audiences and has created himself a unique position in the hindi film industry he was recently also sentenced to 6 years imprisonment but was granted bail after spending a few months behind bars and also married in January 2008, alot of his professional future now depends on his conviction being overturned. If he is able to stay prison free and get back in2 shape and healthy the best of Sanjay dutt could still be yet to come.;