Since Sunil Dutt and his son, Sanju, are the flavour of the season, let me open my store of memories. I had a very special relationship with Dutt Sr or "Dutt Saab", who was always the first to take me for coffee at any new five-star hotel that opened in Mumbai. We'd hang around the studio while he wound up a double or triple shift of shooting and go to say, Centaur Hotel near the airport when it had newly opened, sit on the lawns, have coffee and chat. I once asked him in all my college girl naivete (I was studying and working) what it was like to be married to an older woman. He'd replied that when you fall in love, such factors don't matter.
Actually, he had a more difficult life than his son ever did and in his case, they were circumstances that gave him grief, not self-made complications. He and Nargis went through a harrowing financial situation after a couple of his productions failed. They started coming out of it when Sunil Dutt, playing a dacoit in films like Heera, caught on. Folks would joke that he'd get ready in the morning, step out of his Pali Hill bungalow, jump onto a horse and ride to the studio.
Nargis was full of fun. She'd ply us with trifle pudding or whatever, and keep us company until Mr Dutt stepped out, always brimming with energy.
With Sanju too, there's an equation nobody can take away. I was the first person to ever interview him. It was for an annual issue of Star & Style (very popular in the 70s and 80s), where we had relatives writing about the celebrity at home. I wanted Sanju to do a piece on his father but he, barely out of school, was elusive even then. One Sunday, Nargis called me and said conspiratorially, "Come right now, I'll keep him pinned till you get here." Sanju then and Sanju now is charm personified when you do sit down with him.
After Sanju's drugs and Nargis' illness (in that order) consumed him, Sunil Dutt never knew peace but bashed on regardless. One poignant moment (not shown in Hirani's film) was when Sanju's first wife Richa Sharma had a brain tumour. Sanju had knocked on Sunil Dutt's door and asked if he could sleep with him that night. Dutt was in tears.
When his iconic bungalow finally gave way to a spiffy set of high-rise apartments, Sunil Dutt had a sprawling apartment all to himself next to his son's. He said he'd never known such happiness before. But he didn't live to experience it; he died before he could settle into that comforting arrangement.
Just when you've popped the champagne, life throws you a lemon out of which you can't make even lemonade.
Didn't it just happen to Irrfan Khan? He'd commissioned the very exclusive Shabnam Gupta to make a beautiful home for him. Shabnam, who is eminent filmmaker Ramanand Sagar's granddaughter, gave Irrfan and Sutapa an exquisite home that was featured in a natty architectural magazine. After years of struggle, Irrfan was seeing good times when we all know what hit him without warning. When I last enquired, he'd gone through a round of chemo and was ready for the next in a London hospital.
Like Irrfan, pretty Sonali Bendre also took to Twitter to announce that she's been diagnosed with "high grade" cancer. By the time it was discovered, the disease had spread all over the lining of the uterus. And elsewhere, if that's what metastasised means.
Just a while ago, the Behls were in celebratory mood. Sonali's sister-in-law, Shristi Behl (hubby Goldie's sister), was appointed director for international originals by Netflix. For Abhishek Bachchan, Goldie is like a brother and Sonali is his "Bhabs". So Shristi's appointment called for "Cheers" and Jaya Bachchan did just that when she threw a big party and popped the champagne.
Today, the Bachchans keep vigil along with the Behls. And Abhishek promptly flew to the US to be with Goldie as Sonali battles the disease at Sloan Kettering.
Bharathi S. Pradhan is a senior journalist and author
