Ram Gopal Varma is a filmmaker who loves to get his fingers in controversies. Rajkumar Hirani’s Sanju starring Ranbir Kapoor in the lead is minting money at the box office but the film which is supposed to be a biopic on Sanjay Dutt has received flak for whitewashing the actor’s image and showing his vices and mistakes in a frivolous manner. Now, RGV wants to make another biopic on Sanjay which will reportedly revolve around the AK-56 chapter of the actor’s life. However, Sanjay’s sister Namrata Dutt is not too happy with this development.
Namrata opened up to a leading daily and said that it was an unfortunate incident in Sanjay’s life which he has moved past, so why is RGV trying to rake up the past again. Sanju was made in Hirani’s trademark style of hilarity but Varma is known for his gripping dark way of storytelling and if he resorts to making the biopic it will surely be a gritty affair with much focus on the underworld and the 1993 Bombay bombings and the aftermath.
"Doesn't Varma need Sanjay's approval to make it? If Sanjay gives a go-ahead, we are nobody to say no to him," questioned Sanjay's younger sister. Stating that it was "painful to watch" the Hirani’s film, she Namrata added, "We have been through every phase of what Sanjay has gone through. When he became a drug addict, we at least knew that we could help him out of it by sending him to rehab. But we had no control over the other incident (going to jail). It was painful as we helplessly watched him suffer. It was an unfortunate episode in Sanjay's life. He has moved past it. Why is Varma bringing up the past again?"
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RGV has collaborated with Dutt in the past for two films Daud and Department, but Namrata isn’t comfortable with the director's gritty style of filmmaking. "His movies are dark. Why do you want to go on and on about Sanjay's life? Why is he putting us through so much pain again?” questioned Dutt’s sister.
However, it is not clear whether Varma has sought Sanjay’s permission for the biopic or not. However, Namrata questioned the filmmaker’s intent and whether he has sought Sanjay’s permission to make a film on his life. She said that if Sanjay gives a go-ahead she is nobody to say no to RGV.
Sanjay’s tryst with the authorities began when he acquired an unlicensed AK-56 rifle in January 1993. After the serial bomb blasts that rocked Mumbai in March that year, Sanjay was arrested under the strict TADA Act (Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act) for criminal conspiracy along with aiding and abetting terrorism and other charges.
Sanjay fought the charges for years and his actor-politician father Sunil Dutt tried his all to get his son’s name cleared. In November 2006, the TADA court dropped the terrorism charges against the actor but convicted him in under the Arms Act and sentenced him to six years of imprisonment.
