Sunil Dutt

Sunil Dutt was born as Balbir Dutt on June 6, 1929 in Jhelum, Punjab which is now a part of Pakistan. Later his family settled in the Yamunanagar in Haryana. Sunil Dutt joined the Jai Hind College in Mumbai and began his career as a Radio Jockey with South Asia’s oldest radio station Radio Ceylon and later plunged into films with the 1955 release ‘Railway Platform’.

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He was later cast by in Mehboob Khan’s critically acclaimed film ‘Mother India’. Nargis played the protagonist while Sunil Dutt and Rajenndra Kumar played her sons. The film became India’s first official entry to the Academy Awards and also won several Filmfare awards including the Best Film. It was during the filming of ‘Mother India’ that Sunil Dutt and Nargis fell in love and later married. It is believed that Sunil saved Nargis from a fatal fire accident that took place on the sets of ‘Mother India’. Sunil Dutt and Nargis Dutt were blessed with three children actor- producer Sanjay Dutt, daughters Priya Dutt and Namrata Dutt. Priya Dutt is a Member of the Parliament and Namrata is married to Kumar Gaurav, son of Suni Dutt’s fellow actor Rajendra Kumar.

The success of ‘Mother India’ was followed by several superhit films like B R Chopra’s ‘Sadhna’ opposite Vyjayanthimala, Bimal Roy’s ‘Sujata’ opposite Nutan, Moni Bhattacharjee’s ‘Mujhe Jeene Do’ opposite Waheeda Rehman, A. Bhimsingh’s ‘Khandaan’ opposite Nutan, Jyoti Swaroop’s ‘Padosan’ opposite Saira Banu, Yash Chopra’s ‘Waqt’ opposite Sadhna, B R Chopra’s ‘Hamraaj’ and ‘Gumraah’.

Sunil Dutt ventured into film direction and production with ‘Yaadein’ released in the year 1964. The film starred only one actor, Sunil Dutt himself and thus entered the Guinness Book of World Records. Sunil Dutt also directed the superhit period drama ‘Reshma Aur Shera’ starring himself, Waheeda Rehman, Raakhee, Vinod Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan.

Sunil Dutt was later seen in successful films like S. Ali Raza’s ‘Pran Jaye Par Vachan Na Jaye’ opposite Rekha, Rajkumar Kohli’s ‘Nagin’ alongside an ensemble cast including Feroz Khan, Vinod Mehra, Kabir Bedi, Rekha, Yogeeta Bali, Reena Roy, Jeetendra and Mumtaz and ‘Jaani Dushman’ alongside Sanjeev Kumar, Shatrughan Sinha, Vinod Mehra, Rekha, Reena Roy, Neetu Singh and Bindiya Goswami. Sunil Dutt played a significant role in Ramesh Sippy’s ‘Shaan’ also starring Shashi Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan, Shatrughan Sinha, Raakhee Gulzar, Parveen Babi, Bindiya Goswami and Kulbhushan Kharbanda.

Sunil Dutt launched his son Sanjay Dutt in the 1981 release ‘Rocky’; however Sunil Dutt’s wife Nargis Dutt passed away a few days before the release of the film. Nargis Dutt was struggling with pancreatic cancer since a long time; it was after her death that Sunil Dutt established the Nargis Dutt foundation to support the treatment of cancer patients.

Sunil joined the Indian National Congress in 1984 and became the Member of Parliament for five times in a row after winning the general elections from the Mumbai North West constituency. Sunil Dutt also served Manmohan Singh’s cabinet as the Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports. Sunil Dutt appeared alongside his son Sanjay Dutt in the Bollywood blockbuster ‘Munnabhai MBBS’ released in 2003. Sunil Dutt was honoured with the prestigious Padma shri Award in the year 1968.He later won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Filmfare, Star Screen, Zee Cine and Anandalok Awards. He also received the coveted Phalke Ratna Award by the Dadasaheb Phalke Academy and "Glory of India Award" by IIAF.

Sunil Dutt suffered a heart attack in his sleep at his residence in Bandra and consequently passed away on 25 May 2005. The entire nation paid tributes to the legend in various processions carried out in the country. His Lok Sabha seat was later won by his daughter Priya Dutt who currently serves as the Member of Parliament.

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