Sunil Dutt(a tribute)

May 25th was second death anniversery of Sunil Dutt or Dutt sahib as he is affectionately known...

May 25th was the second death anniversary of actor-turned-politician Sunil Dutt, a multi-faceted personality who was loved by his countrymen for his social services and acting skills as well. He not only entertained audience with his acting, he also worked unceasingly for the uplift of downtrodden besides travelling nooks and corners of the world for global peace.


Sunil Dutt-The Star

Sunil Dutt became a star in the 1950s and appeared in more than 100 films. Starting out in radio, Dutt was very popular announcer on the Hindi Service of Radio Ceylon, the oldest radio station in South Asia. He moved to Hindi film industry and started his career in the tinsel town with the movie 'Railway Platform' in 1955. Sunil shot to stardom with Mehboob Khan's mega hit 'Mother India' in 1957. Renowned actress of her times, Nargis, was his co-star in the film and Sunil saved her life when fire broke out at the sets during the shooting of the film. This made Nargis his fan and they got married in 1958.

Mother India, in which he played the role of Birju, had won an Oscar nomination in the Best Foreign Film category.

Sadhna , Sujata , Main Chup Rahungi , Yeh Raastein Hain Pyar Ke, Mujhe Jeene Do , Yaadein Gumraah , Waqt, Padosan and Humraaz, to name a few, are some of his memorable films.

He was last seen in Vidhu Vinod Chopra's Munnabhai M.B.B.S in 2003 which also starred his son Sanjay Dutt.

Dutt also made films himself. Reshma Aur Shera, Dard Ka Rishta and Yeh Aag Kab Bujhegi are some of the films he made.

Nargis Dutt died of cancer in 1981, the year their son Sanjay made his Bollywood debut with Rocky.

It was after the death of his wife, Nargis Dutt due to cancer that he turned his attention to social work. He started with working for those afflicted by the dreaded disease. He raised funds for the Nargis Dutt Foundation and used them to fund equipment and medication to treat cancer patients. He also helped the cricketer Imran Khan collect funds for his cancer hospital in Pakistan and did the same for one in Kenya.


Dutt-A man for peace

Sunil Dutt was also committed to peace. It was proved by him when in 1987 he walked 2000 km from Bombay to Amritsar, accompanied by his daughter Priya and many others, and prayed at the Golden Temple for peace in Punjab which was reeling under militancy crisis at that time.

A year later, he undertook a padyatra from Nagasaki to Hiroshima in Japan to protest against nuclear weapons. He also travelled through Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal as part of the "Hands Across the Borders" peace expedition.

Way back during 1962 Indo-China war, Dutt made generous monetary donation.


Dutt-The politician

Apart from being a noted actor, Dutt had an inclination towards politics. He joined Congress and won his Mumbai seat five times on the party's ticket. He also worked tirelessly for slum dwellers there.

In 1984 he was elected on a Congress ticket from Mumbai North-west to the 8th Lok Sabha.

Thereafter, except once, he contested from the same constituency and won every time, including the last general election three years back.

Dutt became a Union Minister for the first time in his over two decade of political career when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gave him the Sports and Youth Affairs portfolio.

He died of cardiac arrest in his sleep on May 25, 2005 at his residence in Mumbai.

His most memorable films, which made me admire him were:
Railway Platform
Sujata
Ek Phool Chaar Kaante
Sadhana
Reshma aur Shera
Mujhe Jeene Do

And the worst movie was Padosan!

source:upperstall

While it is no doubt that Sunil Dutt was an extremely popular and charismatic star, he is never really spoken of in terms of his histrionics. Which is extremely unfair if you look at his body of of work. Dutt could play the simple earnest hero - the idealistic young man (Sujata (1959), Hum Hindustani (1960) or the anti-hero - the 'angry young man' (Mother India (1957), Mujhe Jeene Do (1963), Amrapali (1966)) with equal elan. Be it the comedies Ek Phool Chaar Kaante (1960) or Padosan (1968) or the Muslim Social (Ghazal (1964)), be it weepy meolodramas (Mehrbaan (1967), Meri Bhabhi (1969) or personal experimental films (Yaadein (1964) -- he did them all and successfully too.

He was born Balraj Dutt in Khurd in Jhelum District (Now in Pakistan). His father died when he was just five and he, his sister and brother were brought up by his uncle. In 1947, during Partition, his family fled to India and lived in Ambala district, now in Haryana. In the early 1950s, Dutt moved to Mumbai to continue his education and joined the Jai Hind College. 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.

Dutt made his feature film debut in Railway Platform (1955) opposite Nalini Jaywant. But his big breakthrough film was Mother India. Mother India is the ultimate tribute to Indian Womanhood! This epic saga of the sufferings of an Indian peasant woman has an inherent and perennial appeal, being typical of the Indian situation. So tremendous was its success that the film is in fact a reference point in the long-suffering mother genre and is like an Indian Gone With the Wind (1939). Sunil Dutt made an extremely strong impact playing the rebellious son Birju, whom his mother Radha (Nargis) finally shoots down. In a sense Sunil Dutt's performance was a precursor to the 'angry young man' roles of Amitabh Bachchan. It is a well-known story that while shooting for the film, Nargis was trapped amidst lit haystacks. As the flames got higher and higher, Sunil Dutt ran through the fire and rescued her. He proposed to her and Nargis married Sunil Dutt and quit films after marriage.

As an actor, following Mother India, Sunil Dutt's star was on the rise. From strong supporting roles in female centric roles (Sadhana (1958) opposite Vyjayantimala, Sujata with Nutan), he graduated to becaming a A-Grade hero in the 1960s. Perhaps Dutt's most well-known work came in his association with BR Chopra (Ek hi Raasta (1956), Sadhana , Gumrah (1963), Waqt (1965) and Humraaz (1967)). The films were among Dutt's biggest successes at the box office. His most enduring film however would have to be Padosan (1968), one of the best comedies ever made in Hindi filmdom. Dutt played a simpleton, Bhola, who gives up his commitment to celibacy when he falls for sexy neighbour, Bindu (Saira Bano). Though surrounded by ace comedians Mehmood, Kishore Kumar, Om Prakash and Keshto Mukherjee, Dutt more then held his own in the film. The sequences of him 'giving playback' to Kishore Kumar actually singing for him are the highlights of the film, in particular the jugalbandi Ek Chatur Naar. Dutt's other important and popular films inlcude Main Chup Rahoongi (1962), Khandaan (1965), Gaban (1966), Mera Saaya (1966), Milan (1967) and Chiraag (1969)

Will see if later today I can upload some of the songs from his movies...

I just realized that Dutt sahib's birthday is also coming..its ...june 6th!!...

Awards and honors
1963 - Filmfare Best Actor Award, Mujhe Jeeno Do
1965 - Filmfare Best Actor Award, Khandaan
1995 - Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award
1998 - Star Screen Lifetime Achievement Award
2001 - Zee Cine Award for Lifetime Achievement

Sunil Dutt was a recipient of the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian award from the Government of India.

Found this piece of information..

Radio Ceylon had a very lucrative arm - the Hindi Service of the station. Millions of rupees in terms of advertising revenue came from India. The station employed some of the most popular Indian announcers who played a vital role in establishing Radio Ceylon as the 'King of the Airwaves' in South Asia, among them, Sunil Dutt (who went on to become a film star in Bollywood).

source: rediff.com
What made him a star




Sunil Dutt has been in the public eye for the last five decades now. For four of these decades, he was a popular star-actor. Contributing to his longevity as an actor was his ability to project gritty determination to win against the odds --- which made him a star in many an action or dacoit adventure.

What also stood Sunil Dutt in good stead was his heart-in-his-eyes sensitivity which noted filmmakers like Bimal Roy, B R Chopra and Raj Khosla repeatedly drew upon.

Dutt capitalised on his abilty to jump genres and expand on his oeuvre at different stages of his career.

His willingness to experiment with cinema led him to star in offbeat films like Padosan and Amrapali, be the villain in Geeta Mera Naam, and bankroll films like Yaadein (a film starring just one man --- himself), Mujhe Jeene Do (a reformist saga) and the stark desert epic Reshma Aur Shera.

cont...

Sunil Dutt's debut film, Railway Platform (1955) could not not put him on the fast track to success. But the earnest young man was on his way --- even if on the mail track. His first hit, Ek Hi Raasta (1956), marked the start of a seven-film long association with B R Chopra. But Dutt had only a winning cameo in the film as Meena Kumari's husband whose death puts her in jeopardy.

Dutt's true breakthrough came with Mehboob Khan's magnum opus, Mother India (1957). His portrayal of Birju, Nargis' rebellious younger son with a king-sized chip on his shoulders, was filled with a raw, urgent energy. After the film's release, Dutt married Nargis and the film's cult status ensured that he would be very busy in the studios.

But in the late fifties, the Raj Kapoor-Dilip Kumar-Dev Anand trio was formiddable. Stars with definite images like Rajendra Kumar and Shammi Kapoor were cornering the spotlight. Dutt quietly awaited his time even if his next few successes were essentially women-oriented films like Sadhna (1958), Sujata (1959) and Main Chup Rahungi (1962).

At this stage, renowned filmmakers like Bimal Roy (Sujata, Usne Kaha Tha), Hrishikesh Mukherji (Chhaya) and B R Chopra (Sadhna) dared to defy Sunil Dutt's established 'mutinous Birju' image and cast him as a deeply sensitive lover often with reformist proclivities (Dutt accepts a prostitute as his wife in Sadhna, and refuses to consider caste as a barrier to love in Sujata).

These films obviously influenced Dutt greatly --- when he turned producer in the early sixties, it was 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 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 found to be too esoteric by most.

But by now Dutt had hit his peak as a star and was starring in a string of hits. A regular with the B R Chopra camp, he exuded style and sophistication in three of his sixties successes --- Gumraah (1963), Waqt (1965) and Humraaz (1967). Simultaneously, the disciplined Dutt was also a favourite with South Indian filmmakers which resulted in emotion-heavy, rural-based hits with Nutan like Khandaan and Milan.