Sanjay Dutt- A Prodigal Returned For More Dismay

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"When prodigals return great things are done." --A.A. Dowty

"I committed a mistake," Dutt said with folded hands.

"Please consider my case and permit me to surrender after a few days. I have a lot of family matters to take care of," the actor said, adding that his sister - Priya, a Congress MP - was pregnant.

"Give me just two days and I will come back," he said, but Kode replied that he had no power.

"I have no power now after pronouncing the sentence. I have been very considerate with you and allowed you to be on bail since you were convicted on Nov 28 last year."

When I read the conversation in the newspaper, I felt pity for the most loved macho man of the Bollywood film industry. The well built hunk was kneeling like a humble sheep to gather his present and future in his trembling hands. Innumerable questions started mounting my head. Isn't the verdict too harsh?

Should a man be punished who repented for his deeds with graceful works? Why are convicts punished, is it to reincarnate them to finer being or just to say ' you deserve it as you did it'?

This article is an attempt to see the softer side and the re-transformation of Bollywood 'Bad boy', Sanjay Dutt to the transformed ' Gandhigiri man '. To read his detailed life story, read 'Sanjay Dutt - A real Hero'

Sanjay Dutt's journey from 1993 to 2007 in his

personal life and Bollywood career has seen both the heaves and the vaults. The release of Khalnayak in1993 happened to coincide with Sanjay Dutt's arrest in connection with the Mumbai blasting. He was convicted of illegal possession of arms and ammunition, which were allegedly part of the consignment used in the bombings.

According to the CBI case filed in a TADA court, it was alleged that the gangster Abu Salem and his men went to Dutt's house on January 1993 and gave him three AK-56 rifles, 25 hand grenades, one 9mm pistol and cartridges. He returned two AK-56 rifles, hand grenades and cartridges one AK-56 rifle himself. On learning of Mumbai Police's investigation about his involvement in the blasts, Dutt instructed his friends to destroy the rifle. Dutt then called the Mumbai Police Commissioner and informed him of his plans to return to India immediately, where he was arrested upon landing. He spent more than 18 months in Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai, before being released on bail.

His return from the jail was splendid comeback in film industry with major Box office hits. It is said that during his stay in the prison he studied the life of the gangster and tried to portray them in his films. He gave a softer touch to the life of the gangsters other the usual blood flow world. Out on bail, Vaastav was Sanjay's first attempt for re-building his career after 6 long years. This movie portrayed much like he did in real life, too. By this time, the trial and what it would do to his life was always on his mind.

Sanjay Dutt tried to replant his own life. He tried to find solace by marrying again to be left disheartened for the rest of his life. The couple divorced in 2005, the same year his father, Sunil Dutt, a federal minister, died of a heart attack.

Sanjay Dutt, till date has taken up the charity work for the Nargis Dutt Cancer Foundation, set up 23 years ago after the death of his actress mother. The Foundation now has some 20 chapters worldwide including Vancouver and Toronto. The non-profit chapters function independently with a volunteer board and have raised over five million dollars. He was even reported funding Tsunami victims for a huge lump of amount.

All his charity work did not pile in his good books. He troublesome youth refused to leave him. In a daily newspaper actor Sunil Shetty stated that the past 13 years had been "like a prison sentence without bars" for Dutt. Shetty said Dutt was a generous human being, who had paid for the operations of Bollywood workers and financially supported many families, charitable work that the movie industry aims to publicize.

Sanjay is back in the dark cells which he dreaded for more than a decade. He couldn't get over the law of the land. The law of the land did give justice to the people who died in the blast but somewhere it failed to justify a man who repented for 14 long years for his deeds.