Rajkumar Hirani's directorial biographical movie Sanju, which chronicles the ups and downs of Sanjay Dutt's life on the big screen, has become the biggest blockbuster of 2018 so far.
One of the biggest controversies surrounding the 58-year-old actor's life is his involvement in the 1993 Mumbai terror attack. Just to brush up your memory, the infamous story of Sanjay Dutt was first broken by journalist Baljeet Parmar.
It is being said that Parmar heard a rumour that the son of an MP was involved in the arms case but later after digging into it, he found out that it was in fact, Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt. The actor was then arrested five days after the news was broken when he returned to Mumbai from Mauritius.
In the movie, there is a scene where Ranbir Kapoor as Sanjay Dutt is being arrested by the Mumbai Police in the Arms Act case as soon as he deboards the aircraft.
While many people came up with an opinion that the biopic was nothing but a PR exercise to clean up Sanjay Dutt's image, Parmar was flooded with hundreds of messages and requests to react on the film.
But the journalist chose to stay away from the biopic and took a strong stand not to watch it at all.
In a long Facebook post, Parmar explained the reason behind his resentment towards the movie Sanju and said that it is a waste of time to discuss merits or demerits of such films or the inspiration, Sanjay Dutt.
He also made a strong statement that the so-called biopics are tailored to suit the man or the woman they are based on, and Hirani and his ilk are simply out to make a quick buck. He further said that these biopics are not to inspire the viewers but here to create a smokescreen to blur their minds.
Read the full text here:
During the last two days I have received hundreds of messages and requests to react on the film SANJU. First of all let me confess that I am not a film buff. The last time I went to watch a movie was in 1997.
But that doesn't mean that I am alien to the medium. My first brush with Bollywood was in 1976 when I landed in Mumbai from Chandigarh. My friend Labh Singh was working for Himalaya Films and I stayed with him at Shri Chetan Anand's shack at Juhu where I had the privilege of, meeting Dev Saab, Goldie ji, Raj Kumar, Vinod Khanna, Pran Saab, Shekhar Kapoor among many others.
During the period Chetan Saab started 'hathon ki Lakrrein 'and his son Kunki Baba completed his film with Shekhar and Shsbana. I was a part of the production team. It was here at Himalaya Films that I got my big career break courtesy Kunki Baba and vital help from his general manager Poras Dartuwalla who introduced me to Sam Cambata and Kali Mody who had the security contract for hotels Holiday Inn, Juhu, Ambassador at Churchgate and Wellington Club. I was made the Chief Security Officer and operated from Juhu.
In those days Holiday Inn was nerve centre of Bollywood activities. Every other day there was a Mahurat or a filmi party.
My job and position put me in direct contact with many known personalities. Dharam Bhaji gave us contract to guard his bungalow which made made me to visit him often. The extended Deol family --Bauji, Ajit Bhaaji, Virender,, Jagdarshan, Ranjit Virk became my family too and still remains the same.
I still cherish the moments like having a drink with Rajesh Khanna, Pran Saab, Rajinder Singh Bedi,Raj Kumar, Achha Anand or enjoying card sessions at Narinder Bedi's Khar Bungalow.
The point I want to make is that I have seen film industry from very close quarters. But at the same time I never felt at home in the filmdom. I still have many friends and well wishers like Raj Babbar, Milan Luthria, Madhur Bhandarkar, Satish Kaushik to name a few but I never discuss films with them. We just exchange pleasantries or chat about the underworld.
Having said that I very strongly feel that it is a waste of time to discuss merits or dismerits of films like SANJU or it's protagonist Sanjay Dutt. Hirani and his ilk are out there to make a quick buck. That is their business and they have every right to do it. They are there to compose fiction and not portraying facts. Fiction is soft. Facts are hard. One is very easy to manufacture the other is difficult to gather.
The so-called bio pics are tailored to suite the man or the woman they are based on. They are not to inspire the audiences but are there to create a smokescreen to blur their minds.
The use or misuse of drugs, sleeping with women, branding media as an addictive potion, finding faults with system or society, willingly and knowingly Indulge in criminal activity, showing no remorse for your past actions, playing the sympathy card and crying victim, if that is what SANJU is about, I do not regret my decision of staying away from cinema halls.[sic]"
