Beneath Sanjay Dutt’s machismo and murky underworld connections, over and above his movie star aura and predilection for trouble, Sanju is a beautiful father-son story. A story of Sunil Dutt’s unflinching support for his wayward son, a father who stands strong through some of the biggest crises in his son’s life. Paresh Rawal plays Dutt Sr with a mix of emotion and gravitas and it is in the father-son moments — packed with life lessons, quiet strength and a tribute to some of Hindi cinema’s best lyricists through the ages — that you will find the best of Rajkumar Hirani’s Sanju.
It’s not an easy task bringing alive the story of a larger-than-life film star who’s battled drug addiction, multiple stints in jail and the tag of a terrorist. “Misunderstood”, “King of bad choices”, “Ordinary son of an extraordinary father”, “Khalnayak”… for every finger pointed at Dutt, what makes his story worth telling is the way he’s bounced back. Every single time.
Even as he goes about telling Dutt’s story as honestly as he can — the disclaimer at the beginning says it’s a cinematic adaptation of events in the life of the actor, infused with fictional elements — Hirani treads with caution. Most names are changed and many parts of Dutt’s life are glossed over — his sisters play peripheral characters and his first two marriages don’t find a mention. As the trailer promised, Hirani adopts a lightness of touch to tell his story. While that helps in keeping Sanju engaging, it prevents the filmmaker from digging deep into the mind, motivations and machinations of the man.
What Hirani does well is adopt a non-linear narrative. The film starts off just as Dutt (Ranbir Kapoor), with ballooning weight and bags under his eyes, is getting ready to serve his final jail term. He tells his story to a biographer Winnie Diaz (Anushka Sharma, sporting blue contact lenses and an ’80s-style perm in 2015) and the storyline keeps oscillating between the past and the present.
The first half is dominated by Sanju gradually sinking in the quicksand of drug addiction, landing up in a rehab in the US, running away from it to beg on the streets and finally giving up on drugs to take his career seriously. There’s nothing there that you haven’t already heard or read about, but credit to Hirani’s storytelling and Ranbir’s chameleon-like ability to become Dutt that you don’t lose interest. A scene between Sanju, his girlfriend Ruby (Sonam Kapoor) and her dad (Boman Irani) — he lands up in the middle of the night looking to raid her dad’s bar, she thinks he’s going to ask her to marry him — is comedy gold.
The film also doesn’t sugarcoat the unpleasant bits. Dutt hopping from one topless New York bar to another while his mother Nargis (Manisha Koirala) lay in coma, his hobnobbing with the underworld, his possession of a rifle in the run-up to the Bombay blasts of 1993… all find their way in. But is it all Dutt’s fault? No, says Hirani. Just like he lashed out at the education system in 3 Idiots and organised religion in PK, Hirani finds a fall guy here too. There’s even an angsty song directed towards it at the end — a treat for every Bolly buff.
The emotional moments form the heart of Hirani and co-writer Abhijat Joshi’s storytelling. The friendship between Dutt and his pal Kamlesh (Vicky Kaushal) bring much of the laughter and tears. Kaushal, coming off Raazi, has screen time next only to Ranbir and turns in a superlative act.
Despite its engaging narrative, Sanju never reaches a crescendo. The uneven watch limps to a predictable end, and unlike Hirani’s previous films, it leaves you a tad underwhelmed. But it’s the man in the middle — Ranbir Kapoor — who gives you reason enough to buy a ticket for Sanju. Easily the best actor of his generation, Ranbir inhabits Dutt wholly, changing body and body language. The swagger and the shake of the head are spot-on, but Ranbir also becomes Dutt in skin and soul. A million jaadu ki jhappis for this one, RK!
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