Click to play videoIt has all the makings of a Bollywood potboiler. Actor Sanjay Dutt - out on bail after being convicted under the Arms Act in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case - will fight the upcoming Lok Sabha election polls from Lucknow on a Samajwadi Party ticket.
His decision to enter politics has created a rift in the Dutt family.
Sanjay Dutt's sister Priya Dutt, a Congress Lok Sabha MP from Mumbai-North-West in Maharashtra, does not agree with his decision to join the Samajwadi Party. She has also expressed in public her disapproval of his wife Manyata who the SP claims will be fielded if Sanjay Dutt is unable to contest.
CNN-IBN's Rohit Chandavarkar spoke to the abhineta-turned-neta on family disapproval, his choice of the SP and his controversial - and perhaps sexist - remarks on women who choose to retain their maiden name.
CNN-IBN: Your sister is a Member of Parliament from Mumbai and also a respected person. She said on camera that she was disappointed. Have you spoken with her?
Sanjay Dutt: We’ve spoken about it. Its’s natural that she will be disappointed. I think she respects my decision like I respect hers. I am always there for her. If she tells me, ‘Bhaiyya, you have to be there’, I will be there 100 per cent. It’s vice-versa and that’s the truth.
CNN-IBN: There was one newspaper report that said you did not like Priya Dutt was using the Dutt surname. Was it right?
Sanjay Dutt: That’s a misquote. I have not said anything about the women's rights. I have talked about the traditions. All over the world, is that when a woman gets married to a person, she adopts that man’s name. I am not saying she should not use her father’s surname but the tradition goes otherwise. I said I would be offended if my wife uses her father’s name. I have talked about my opinion. Renuka ji (Choudhary, Women and Child Development Minister) is the daughter of Air Marshall Roy but she uses her husband’s name. The only example I can give you is that there’s no stronger or bigger name than the Nehru name. When Indiraji (former prime minister Indira Gandhi) got married, it was not Indira Nehru. Honourable Indira Gandhi, she was. I mean that was the thing. Rest it is up to an individual.
CNN-IBN: A lot of people were surprised you did not go with the Congress. As the son of Sunil Dutt, may be you could have gone with Congress and people would have may be supported you even then. What happened?
Sanjay Dutt: Congress did not offer me anything. But it is not that. My whole family is basically inclined toward the Gandhi family. It's always been there from my family’s association with Panditji (Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru) time or with the honurable Indiraji, with Rajivji (Rajiv Gandhi) and Sonia (Sonia Gandhi) Ma’am. The association has been very strong. But I cannot not mention that Amar Singhji has stood by me like a rock for the last 12 years. In thick and thin, whether he was in power, not in power. It was not about power that he stood by me. It was because he loved me like a younger brother. Plus, I want to make clear that Congress and SP are in coalition. They are like-minded people, secular and are working together. The SP has helped the Congress in the nuclear deal.
CNN-IBN: One big relief for you and your fans is that you have been exonerated in the TADA charges.
Sanjay Dutt: Thank God!
CNN-IBN: Don’t you think you should have waited till final decision in the case and then entered politics so that Opposition does not take advantage of the situation?
Sanjay Dutt: After I die? It’s already been 20 years since this case. Amar Singh ji told me I should serve the people since it’s the right time. He told me to think about it. I was honoured since at least someone thought I was capable of it. He spoke with me, I gave it a thought – I thought of my bloodline, my father and my mother and what they have done for the country. That’s the reason I agreed.
CNN-IBN: Why did you chose Lucknow as your constituency when Maharashtra is so close to you and you are from there?
Sanjay Dutt: There’s an emotional reason to it. My father, after Partition, came to Lucknow. He stayed in Lucknow in Ameenabad for three years and worked in All India Radio. Lucknow was the first place where he got his bread and butter. It’s a very emotional place for the entire family for this reason.
CNN-IBN: You think you’ll contest from there even after Atal Behari Vajapyee (BJP) files his nomination? You’ve made some statement about that.
Sanjay Dutt: My stand was clear when I spoke in the press conference. Atalji has been my prime minister. Not only mine but the prime minister of the entire nation. He is a very, very senior leader who all of us respect. He is like a father-figure to me and most of us. That’s not how I have been raised – to stand opposite any one who’s senior.
CNN-IBN: You have a successful career in Bollywood, the audiences love you because you’ve been consistent. Will you have the same consistency in politics? Are you serious about it and what do you intend to achieve in politics?
Sanjay Dutt: I am serious if I have taken this. It means I have to be serious. But my first love is cinema. It’s not that I am going to leave my acting career and just jump into politics. I know I will have to balance it in a right way. I’ll have to spend a lot of time in the constituency. I’ll have to cut my work (in films) but it does not means I will have to leave it. I will choose my movies and work in the right films. The consistency will remain in both fields.
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