Sanjay Dutt apologises for bodyguards assaulting reporters at Bhoomi shooting

Agra Cine actor Sanjay Dutt, who is shooting for his comeback movie Bhoomi in Agra, has apologised for the incident in which his bouncers manhandled media persons. In the film, the actor is playing father to young Aditi Rao Hydari and currently shooting is on in villages on the outskirts.

Addressing a press conference in Agra on Friday, Dutt clarified that he was not present when the alleged brawl took place and had he been there, the incident would have been averted.

“Had I been there, I would have resolved the matter with a ‘jaadu ki jhappi’ (magic hug). Yet I tendered an apology yesterday and offer the same again,” said a rather toned down Dutt.

Replying to a question about how Agra had changed since the days when he came here for shooting of ‘Vidhata’ a few decades earlier, he said, “Tab Agra ke log pyar se maan jaate the magar ab maafi se maante hain’ (earlier Agra residents were pacified with love but now seek apology).

“Although ‘Vidhata’ was shot in the Taj city, there was no Agra in the film. But this time it is the story of Agra for an issue which is pan India,” said Dutt, adding that the portrayal on celluloid promoted both city and state and so any unpleasant incident should not take place.

To recall, on Thursday evening when the shooting was taking place near Kalakriti Convention Hall in Agra and a major road, 500 metres away from Taj Mahal was cordoned off with rope, media men tried to click the shooting and bouncers allegedly roughed them up. The media persons later reached Tajganj police station with a complaint. They alleged that they were manhandled and their cameras taken away.

Dutt, who has four decades of experience and nearly 200 films under his belt, said that the film industry was his family and he had missed it while in jail. He lauded newcomers but said that earlier film making was more from the heart and now more from the mind.

When asked about parenting, the actor turned nostalgic, recalling his father saying, ‘I am your father and not your friend.’

Asked about similarities or differences between on-screen daughter Aditi and off-screen daughter Trishala, Dutt said, “Yes, there is a difference as I thought of breaking Trishala’s legs when she wanted to work in movies which I can’t do to Aditi.” But he added smilingly, “I had a beautiful relationship with my children.”

His co-star Shekhar Suman praised Dutt for his compassion and held that Indian cinema had grown as an industry. “Actors now take their role seriously,” he said.

Aditi Rao Hydari said that it was a memorable experience playing screen daughter to Sanjay Dutt.