Sunil Dutt

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Young Sunil Dutt faced trauma of Indo-Pak Partition Sunil Dutt was born in Khurd village, Jhelum district, Punjab Province, now in Pakistan. When he was just 18 years old Indo- Pak partition broke out and his family was forced him to leave their house. During the Hindu Muslim riots his family was attacked but thanks to their close Muslim neighbor named Yakub, who helped them survive. They all came to India and settled in Mandauli in Yamuna Nagar, Punjab, Haryana. Later Sunil Dutt moved to Lucknow and spent a long time in Aminabad Galli during graduation. Here also he was supported by a Muslim lady Akhtar Begum. Later Dutt moved to Mumbai.

Sunil Dutt’s first encounter with Nargis Sunil Dutt first met Nargis on the sets of a film in 1953 where she was shooting. He was there to interview her for the Radio Ceylon talk show. She was a huge star than and Dutt was still an aspiring actor but during the interview Dutt found Nargis to be humane and down to earth person and had an instant likening for her. After the first interview in 1953 Sunil Dutt got the opportunity to act opposite Nargis in 1957 for Mehboob Khan’s film Mother India. Incidentally in this film she acted as Dutt’s mother. During the shooting Dutt and Nargis became good friends. Once Dutt’s sister was ill and advised operation but Dutt being new in Mumbai was in agony. That’s when Nargis helped him and saved his sister. Dutt was left overwhelmed and found in her a true human being and a woman who had both compassion and understanding. Sunil Dutt rescues Nargis from blazing fire During the shooting of Mother India in the climax there was a scene where Nargis is trapped in a blazing fire from all sides. Sunil Dutt who was on the set jumped into the fire to rescue her risking his life. The daring act of Dutt had an affectionate impact on Nargis and when the shy Dutt proposed her to merry she readily agreed. Though the two came from very different backgrounds, Dutt, son of a Punjabi and Nargis a daughter of Muslim yet the two lived a great married life. Sunil Dutt died of a heart attack on 25 May 2005

Sunil Dutt worked at BEST as clerk In Mumbai Sunil Dutt had a tough time to survive hence in the morning he worked as a clerk at BEST and in the afternoon hunted film studios for work and in evening he completed his graduation at Jai Hind College. While hunting for role in films, Sunil Dutt got opportunity to work for Hindi service of Radio Ceylon (Now Sri Lanka). His job was to interview film celebrity for a sponsored Radio show - Filmi Khabrein. It was during this show he met many film stars and was spotted by film director Ramesh Saigal, who introduced him in his film Railway Platform (1955). It was Ramesh Saigal who rechristened his from Balraj Dutt to Sunil Dutt because the film industry already had Balraj Sahni. Sunil Dutt becomes star with Mother India The film Mother India played a vital role in Sunil Dutt’s career. First it brought bliss into Dutt’s life as he got married to Nargis, the women who stirred his raw life and also looked after his family. Secondly the movie established him as a star and he was flooded with offers. Eminent filmmaker signed him most prominent being Bimal Roy (Sujata), Hrishikesh Mukherjee (Chhaya), B.R.Chopra (Sadhna), AVM pictures (Main Chup Rahungi) and Shakti Samanta (Insan Jaag Utha) all the movies were hit. Sunil Dutt maintains his stardom in the romantic musical era of 60’s During the 60’s when the chocolate heroes like Rajendra Kumar, Shammi Kapoor, Joy Mukherjee, Manoj Kumar were dominating Bollywood with romantic musical hits, Sunil Dutt maintained his stardom doing intense family dramas of the South filmmakers like Khandaan, Beti Bete, Milan,  etc. In addition he was the favorite of BR Films and gave many hits like Gumraah, Waqt, Humraaz. Further with Mehmood's Padosan Dutt proved he is indeed an actor par class. Sunil Dutt’s turns Producer Dejected by run-of-the mill Bollywood films Sunil Dutt turned Producer in the early sixties and stunned the world of cinema with a couple of offbeat movies like Yeh Raaste Hain Pyar Ke (1963), where heroine Leela Naidu has an adulterous relationship and Mujhe Jeene Do (1963) where he played a tough-as-nails dacoit. These films added to Dutt's reputation and commercial standing. His subsequent attempt at filmmaking, Yaadein (1964), where he was the only character in the film, however, was too difficult for the masses to digest. Hence to recover money Sunil Dutt produced a potboiler Masala movie Nehle Pe Dehla (1976) and with the funds he again made social hard-hitting movies like Dard Ka Rishta (funds of which were donated to Cancer treatment cause). He also made a film on bridge burning issue Yeh Aag Kab Bhujhegi (1991).