Golden Era of Bollywood: Remembering SUNIL DUTT on his 12th Death Anniversary

Thursday 25 May 2017

Remembering SUNIL DUTT on his 12th Death Anniversary

Born on June 6, 1929, Sunil Dutt died of a heart attack on 25th May 2005 in Mumbai.He was Union Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs and Member of Parliament from Mumbai North-West at the time of his death.
He started his career with Radio Announcer in the 50s. His involvement in dramatics got him his first job with Keymers, a British advertising agency that hired him for radio programmes. "Lipton ki Mehfil", anchored by Mr. Dutt and broadcast on Radio Ceylon, at that time the only commercial radio station in the region, became extremely popular. Mr. Dutt interviewed many famous film personalities like Dev Anand and Dilip Kumar.
He was introduced to Bollywood by Ramesh Sehgal in 1955 with the film Railway Platform starring Nalini Jaywant and Sheila Ramani.This film had many hit songs but could not not put him on the fast track to success. His first hit, Ek Hi Raasta (1956), marked the start of a seven-film long association with B R Chopra.His collaboration with B.R. Chopra proved to be successful in films such as Gumraah (1963), Waqt (1965) and Hamraaz (1967)
His real breakthrough came with Mehboob Khan's magnum opus, Mother India (1957). His portrayal of Birju, Nargis' rebellious younger son .He had to face tough competition with the Raj Kapoor-Dilip Kumar-Dev Anand trio and Rajendra Kumar,Shammi Kapoor who were giving hits one after another in the 60s.
He was giving hit films but those were women-oriented films like Sadhna (1958), Sujata (1959) and Main Chup Rahungi (1962) so all the credit of success went to Heroines of those films.
Sunil Dutt turned producer in the early sixties with a couple of offbeat movies - 'Yeh Raaste Hain Pyar Ke' (1963), where heroine Leela Naidu has an adulterous relationship and 'Mujhe Jeene Do' (1963) where he played a dacoit. This film brought him fame and success,he latter made Yaadein (1964), where he was the only character in the film, however, was found to be too esoteric by most.
Sunil Dutt's sartorial style was markedly different in both these genres of films, but they were all successful. In fact in 1967, he had a hat-trick of hits with Milan, Meherban and Humraaz.The very next year Padosan released which was a hit but once again the credit of success gone to Mehmood and Kishore Kumar.
In 1968 he produced Man Ka Meet which introduced his brother Som Dutt who was unsuccessful in films.Vinod Khanna was also intoduced by this film. In 1971, he produced, directed and starred in Reshma Aur Shera (1971) which was a huge failure at the box office.After Padosan in 1968 none of his film were hit till 1973,Heera released in 1973 was successful but not a great hit.Another breakthrough came to him after the release of Geeta Mera Naam in 1974.After that he gave many hits like Zakhmee (1975), Nagin (1976),Paapi (1977),Jaani Dushman (1979) and many more.
He launched his son Sanjay's career with Rocky in 1981 which was a success. Shortly before the film's release, Dutt's wife Nargis died of pancreatic cancer. He founded the Nargis Dutt Foundation in her memory for the cure of cancer patients.
Sunil Dutt's life was not smooth he faced many ups and down in his life.He overcame all his problems.
In 1982 he was appointed as the Sheriff of Mumbai, an apolitical titular position bestowed on him by the Maharashtra government for a year.He retired from the film industry in the early 1990s to turn to politics.
In 1984 he joined the Indian National Congress party at the behest of the late Rajiv Gandhi and was elected to Parliament of India for five terms from the constituency of Mumbai North West.During his short tenure as minister, Dutt was known to take up the cause of sportsperson. He is credited with several programmes to improve the standard of Indian athletes.
Just about a year before his death, Dutt returned to the silver screen for a cameo in last year’s superhit ‘Munnabhai MBBS’ starring his son Sanjay in the lead role. It was his last appearance on screen in a long time ever since he featured in his own ‘Dard Ka Rishta’ in 1983 to highlight the plight of cancer victims.
Sunil Dutt was a recipient of numerous awards, including the Padmashree in 1968, the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Award for National Integration and Communal Harmony in 1997, the Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan Award for International Peace, Communal Harmony, Unity and National Integration in 1997 and the Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Award in 1998.
He won Filmfare Award as best Hero twice in Mujhe Jeene Do 1963 and Khandan in 1965,Latter in 1995 he got Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award
He also got National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi for Yaadein in 1965
Sunil Dutt was undoubtedly a great actor — he was much more than that — a compassionate human being, a spirited minister, a magnanimous performer,My Tribute to him on his 12th Death Anniversary