8 things that remained untouched in ‘Sanju’

While the Ranbir Kapoor starrer showed several aspects of Sanjay Dutt’s life, it missed out on important details

Sanju showed several aspects of Sanjay Dutt’s life. However, there was a lot of stuff which was kept away to either respect the people involved or because there were too many things to show on screen, or maybe because it was a conscious decision of director Rajkumar Hirani and his team. Compiled from The Indian Express, here is a list of eight things that remained untouched in the Ranbir Kapoor starrer.

1. Sanjay Dutt’s two wives and daughter Trishala

PHOTO: THE INDIAN EXPRESS

Sanju has no mention of Sanjay Dutt’s first wife Richa Sharma, a former actor who he met during his days in rehab. Richa was diagnosed with brain tumour and got treated at the same hospital in the US as Sanjay’s mother Nargis Dutt.

'Sanju' surpasses 'Padmaavat' and 'Baahubali 2', earning INR1.2 billion in three days

It is said that the Munna Bhai star couldn’t balance his personal and professional life back then. This was also a reason for his strained relationship with his daughter Trishala for many years. Although the father-daughter duo has buried the hatchet now, this entire phase of his life was missing in Sanju. However, Trishala reportedly seemed quite offended about her mother Richa missing from the film.

Sanjay’s second wife Rhea Pillai also finds no place in the film. He married Rhea two years after Richa’s death. The two had quite a public separation.

2. Kumar Gaurav

PHOTO: THE INDIAN EXPRESS

Sanjay Dutt had a tough start in Bollywood with Rocky. His addiction to drugs took a toll on his films too with continuous flops for the next five years. That’s when his close friend Kumar Gaurav tried to revive his career with the 1986 film Naam, which was directed by Mahesh Bhatt. The film turned out to be a blockbuster. This and a lot more Gaurav did for Sanjay. All of it was missing from Sanju, even the fact that Gaurav later became Sanjay’s brother-in-law.

3. 1999 – the year of back-to-back hits

PHOTO: THE INDIAN EXPRESS

Out of the five films released in 1999, Daag: The Fire, Haseena Maan Jaayegi and Vaastav were his back-to-back hits. Vaastav also got him his first Filmfare trophy for Best Actor. All Sanju showed with regard to his films was a small sequence on Munna Bhai MBBS. Probably because it was from the same makers. But we cannot remove the year 1999 from Sanjay’s life.

4. Sanjay’s alleged link-ups

PHOTO: THE INDIAN EXPRESS

We only saw Ruby as Sanjay’s love interest. But there were several co-stars who were allegedly linked with Sanjay during the 1990s. This speculated list includes Madhuri Dixit and Tina Munim.

5. The Bal Thackeray connection in getting him bail

PHOTO: THE INDIAN EXPRESS

Sanjay was arrested in 1993 in connection with the Mumbai blasts, something we clearly saw in the film. But, nowhere was it shown that it was allegedly with the intervention of Bal Thackeray that Sanjay was released in 1995 after having spent 18 months in prison. It is reported that his father Sunil Dutt met Thackeray senior to make the special plea.

6. Sanjay’s failed attempt to enter politics

PHOTO: THE INDIAN EXPRESS

Sanjay had plans of contesting as a candidate from the Samajwadi Party in the 2009 parliamentary elections. However, owing to his involvement in the 1993 bombings, the Supreme Court cancelled his candidature. Sanjay had in later interviews said that it was a mistake on his part to join SP, as he wished to get associated with the Congress, despite a fallout with the party before. Sunil was also a Congress man and served as the Union sports minister in the UPA government between 2004 and 2005.

7. Brush with the underworld

PHOTO: THE INDIAN EXPRESS

Apart from showing that he accepted a delivery of weapons and explosives from gangsters who were responsible for the Mumbai blasts, there was no other mention of Sanjay’s involvement with the underworld.

8. Sanjay’s friendship with Salman Khan and Sanjay Gupta

PHOTO: THE INDIAN EXPRESS

Apart from the many Bollywood bigwigs, two of Sanjay’s closest friends were Salman Khan and Sanjay Gupta. While his friendship with Gupta went sour owing to a misunderstanding between them, Sanjay and Salman still remain good friends. The two often make guest appearances in each other’s films.

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