Sanjay Dutt - the superstar

One of my favourite Indian actors is Sanjay Dutt. In my opinion he is a superstar. He has worked in more than 100 movies in the last 30+ years. Whenever I see a movie with him in it I do not focus on the other actors because I am in his awe of his presence and acting.

I will discuss a few of his movies that I have enjoyed more out of the many I have seen so far.

I remember watching Inaam Dus Hazaar nearly 20 years ago. It was a fun action movie and Sanjay was very good as the young man chased by criminals because of mistaken identity. His scenes with the heroine Meenakshi Sheshadri are very endearing. His fight scenes in the movie are good. Overall, I found the movie quite entertaining.

I saw Khalnayak many years ago as well. It was an overall good movie and the best role was Sanjay's. He plays a young, gullible man who becomes a criminal and much later in the movie redeems himself. His anguish and anger in a few scenes seem too real. He had the scope to perform a lot in this role. His scenes with his mother are emotional. Overall, I liked the movie quite a lot but I had one major problem. They have a fight scene in a jail at the start and Sanjay's character is badly beaten by the main police officer. The other actor, Jackie Shroff, is very good but I felt this scene was too one sided. If the fight showed both actors overpowering each other for half of the time or the inspector even marginally getting the better of Sanjay's character that would have been better or more realistic. They show a tough criminal such as Sanjay's character easily being beaten and that I do not feel is honest with the film and its overall structure.

I remember being blown away by Sanjay's towering performance in Vaastav. At the start of the movie he is a happy-go-lucky guy who goofs around and wants to start a small eatery. Soon due to unfortunate circumstances he becomes a criminal and then a dreaded gangster. He shows this transformation very well. He is so comfortable playing a gangster and this speaks to his acting abilities. His scenes with his mother are top notch and towards the end his final scene with her is probably one of the most emotional scenes I have seen on celluloid in the last 20 or 25 years. He deservedly won awards for this role.

Finally, I will discuss the two films of the Munna Bhai series. In Munna Bhai MBBS and Lage Raho Munna Bhai, Sanjay has been able to create a character, Munna Bhai, that I think will be immortal and loved by audiences for a very long time. His comic timing, dramatic acting, camaraderie with fellow actors, etc. is too good in both movies. Acting along side stalwarts such as Sunil Dutt ji and Rohini Hattangadi as well as newer talents such as Arshad Warsi and Boman Irani, Sanjay gave the performances of a life time in these two movies. For millions of fans across India and the world he has become Munna Bhai. When I saw both movies I actually felt Sanjay was Munna Bhai. Thanks to his incredible acting and hard work in creating the character for both movies, Munna Bhai MBBS and Lage Raho Munna Bhai will always be amongst the very best of Indian movies.

Sanjay has also done exceptional work in Pitaah, Kaante, Kurukshetra, Hum Kisi Se Kam Nahin, Sadak and Saajan, as well as many other movies.

As a fan of Bollywood movies I have enjoyed watching Sanjay's movies. For me he is the superstar. I think from a new actor in the early 1980s to 2021 Sanjay Dutt has created a niche for himself in dramatic/comedic leading man roles and in my opinion has been one of the best leading men (film actors) since the early 1980s across the world.