Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt feels that people respect him more because he ‘didn’t run away’ from his mistakes. “After coming out of jail, I realise people respect me because I didn’t run away. I served my sentence like a man and came out like a man, with dignity,” he told ToI.
The actor was tried under Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (TADA) and was sentenced to 5 years in prison for his involvement in the 1993 Mumbai blasts. He was released from prison earlier this year.
In the interview, Dutt confessed that he had ‘come to terms with his past’. “I made a mistake. I should have been more responsible, but I was young then. I paid for it and now, finally, it’s behind me.”
The 57-year-old actor also reminisced about his time in jail and said that he tried to spend his time as productively as he could. “I read the Bhagavad Gita, the Ramayana and the Puranas, used buckets and clothes lines to work out, learnt Marathi and how to make paper bags. I also worked at the radio station and in the natak mandali in jail where I taught 60-70 convicts serving out life sentences to mouth dialogues, sing, dance and express themselves through skits.”
During his jail-time, Dutt also encouraged two inmates, Zeeshan and Dr Sameer, who had a flair for writing, to write a movie-script. “I’ve given the script to Sajid-Farhad to polish, it’s likely that the duo will direct the film for me. Once the script is locked, we’ll pitch it to a couple of actors, we need someone younger,” said Sanjay Dutt.
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Meanwhile, the actor in an effort to catch up on his lost time, has a lot of movies lined up for the next two years. He has reportedly signed an action-comedy film with Rohit Jugraj Chauhan. There is another movie with director Shelly Chopra titled, Marco Bhau. Also on the cards are Khalnayak Returns and Munna Bhai 3. “I want to do the kind of roles Denzel Washington, Mel Gibson and Kevin Costner play if I get such scripts. I’m at that age now,” said the actor.
Interestingly, there is also a Sanjay Dutt biopic in the pipeline. The film will be directed by Rajkumar Hirani and has Ranbir Kapoor in the lead role.
Feature image courtesy: Indialegalonline