‘Law can’t treat Sanjay Dutt differently’

“Just because we love Sanjay Dutt does not mean the law can treat him differently. This has to be left to the Court. Otherwise, it will be presumed that actors can do anything and get away. If you do something wrong, you will have to pay the price.

“Here is a person who is extremely charming but makes a mistake and pays the price.”

Kishwar, who earlier read out select chapters to highlight the extraordinary relationship of Nargis and Sunil Dutt, said “whatever the court decides should be fine”.

Kishwar Desai’s account of Nargis’ extraordinary career and life is warmly personal. Darlingji — as Nargis and Sunil Dutt called each other affectionately — is really the story of Nargis, an intelligent and affectionate woman.

In the course of her career, Nargis would play both the westernised woman and the conventional ‘Bharatiya nari’, but her iconic role would be Radha in Mother India. In her life after cinema, she would involve herself in meaningful social work, a tradition that Sunil would continue after her death.

The book shows how, despite the skeptics, Nargis and Sunil Dutt went on to build a happy and lasting partnership that would endure the ups and downs they would face in their life together — including Sanjay’s drug habit and Nargis’ battle with cancer.

Lord Desai was also quite critical of sheer lack of archival of Indian cinema.

“We may be a great country with a great history. But we don’t have any archival sense. I passionately believe that India needs a proper film archive. Bollywood should take a lead in that.”

As for Kishwar Desai’s main sources of information, it is the Dutt family archive. For this is a chatty, communicative family, whose members are constantly writing not only to each other but also for themselves, especially as a record of memorable times — on postcards, letters, telegrams, diaries, baby books and more.

Sunil and Nargis were writing little notes to each other all the time, addressing each other in different ways: Often playfully, as “Pia” and “Hey there”; occasionally decorously, as “Dutt Sahib” and “Mama” and once days before their wedding, hurt that she had not told him about her Filmfare Best Actress Award for Mother India, Sunil wrote a letter addressing her as “My Dear Padma Shri” and signing as “A Junior Artiste”.

The children continue the tradition of writing to communicate their feelings and preserve their memories.

In his introduction to the 442-page book, Lord Desai wrote “Indian cinema is, or at least ought to be, a national monument on par with the Taj Mahal and the Qutab Minar. It is older than Hollywood and bigger in terms of the films made.