Sanjay Dutt Wants His Kids To Know His Past
Updated : September 26, 2017 05:53 PM IST
His never-say-die spirit is what keeps him going, says Sanjay Dutt , while in town to promote his recent release, Bhoomi, his comeback in a full-fledged role after a hiatus of three years.
“You have to forget what’s in the past and have to move on. You can’t live with all that has happened and that’s exactly what I’ve done,” says Dutt, who has spent long years on the wrong side of the law in a weapons possession case, and has a history of drug abuse. “Whatever was there is a part of my life, which is gone, and I’ve moved on — I believe that’s the only way to deal with something like that.”
On this visit, Dutt looks unwell: weary eyes, sore throat, and 103 degrees fever. He begins the interview on a low note, saying, “Sorry, I won’t be sounding too enthusiastic because I’m really not feeling well.” However, things are looking up for him, with a comeback movie, and a fulfilling family life.
Dutt is waiting for his six-year-old twins — Iqra and Shahraan — to grow up so that he can narrate his story to them. Are there any apprehensions as to how they will react? “Honestly, I don’t fear that my kids will start hating me after knowing my story,” he replies. “That’s the truth, and they have to know it and live with it. I feel it’s better if they hear it from me than [from] somebody else. And, of course, once they know everything, they can learn from that, too.”
That Dutt is a doting father is well known, but he missed being with his kids on a lot of occasions. On how he’s making up for lost time, he says, “I spend a lot of time with them now. The period when I was in jail, they were too small. And if you ask me, I’d say I was lucky that it happened at that time.”
He adds, “But now everything is good. I am out [of jail] and they are also slightly grown up. They are more understanding and aware of the situation, so they’ll understand things when I tell them.”
Have the kids seen his films? “Yeah, they have watched Munnabhai (2006), Policegiri (2013), and Mission Kashmir (2000) and they love it. They are too small to review my acting on screen but they are like ‘Wow, papa is on TV.’ And that makes me the happiest,” says Dutt.
Having said that, asked if he regrets anything or wishes that he could undo anything from his past, Dutt says, “When you’re going through a problem, you think that way, but once it’s over, I don’t think you should brood over it and think ‘I wish…’ or ‘if I could….’”
For all these years that he was inside the prison or went through testing times, Dutt says that he’d rather take it as a “learning experience”. He tells us, “From the 25 years of the matter going on in court to [the] five years of jail, there was a lot of learning. So all I can say now is you should be positive and take things in your stride.”