Namrata Dutt: Why is Ram Gopal Varma bringing up the past again

Ram Gopal Varma and Sanjay Dutt

Hours after it was reported that Ram Gopal Varma has set into motion a biopic on Sanjay Dutt - one that critically appraises the actor and his run-ins with the law - sister Namrata Dutt says she doesn't understand the need to put the spotlight on episodes that Sanjay has put behind him.

Namrata tells mid-day, "Doesn't Varma need Sanjay's approval to make it? If Sanjay gives a go-ahead, we are nobody to say no to him." Despite it being a runaway hit, Rajkumar Hirani's Sanju has been accused of glossing over the actor's checkered past, with the emphasis laid on his strained relationship with father Sunil Dutt. In sharp contrast, Varma's biopic, tentatively titled Sanju: The Real Story, will focus on Sanjay's arrest for possessing an AK-56 rifle in connection with the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts.

Namrata Dutt

Stating that it was "painful to watch" the Hirani-directed venture as it brought back the dark days that the family had been through, she says that another cinematic outing would only affect them further. "We have been through every phase of what Sanjay has gone through. When he became a drug addict, we at least knew that we could help him out of it by sending him to rehab. But we had no control over the other incident [going to jail]. It was painful as we helplessly watched him suffer," she recollects, adding that Sanjay has strived to emerge stronger from his past incidents.

"It was an unfortunate episode in Sanjay's life. He has moved past it. Why is Varma bringing up the past again?" Though Varma and Sanjay have collaborated on two films, Namrata states that she doesn't trust the director's gritty style of filmmaking. "His movies are dark. Why do you want to go on and on about Sanjay's life? Why is he putting us through so much pain again?"

A still from Sanju

Rumours suggest that husband Kumar Gaurav hasn't watched Sanju yet as he's hurt that despite being thick friends for decades, his character didn't find a place in the movie. "Bunty is not upset. He wasn't well during the screening. He will watch it soon." She adds that she would have liked if Sanjay's former wife Richa and daughter Trishala were depicted in the biopic. "I missed watching their characters. But I haven't mentioned it to Sanjay."

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