Sanjay Dutt: If you want to lose weight, there is nothing like jail

(NOTE: The conversation is from the India Today Conclave 2016)

Actor Sanjay Dutt was one of the star personalities at the India Today Conclave 2016. Here’s his conversation with INDIA TODAY’s Rajdeep Sardesai at the event.

Rajdeep Sardesai: His life has mir­rored any Hindi film story, with every twist and turn possible. For some, he has been, what can be best described as a Khalnayak, for others he’s been seen as Munnabhai. His life, in a sense, is a mirror of high drama, like few others have seen it. For much of the last 23 years, he has been in and out of jails. On the long road to freedom and redemp­tion, since he is finally a free man today, I must ask you this question at the very start: are you finally feel­ing free and azaad?

Sanjay Dutt: To feel free—that’ll take a little time. I have been in jail not just for five years. With this case going on for 23 years, there were restrictions, permissions, so many things, for a long time. I am finally trying to get the grip of it—to feel free again.

RS: You still think there is some policeman somewhere in this room, who might come and say, “Sanjay, let’s go back to jail”?

SD: I saw some police guys back there and I got scared, you know.

RS: You told me that you almost had a dream, the other day, that you were being called to the police sta­tion in the morning?

SD: Yeah. You know, there is this provision of furlough and parole which every prisoner gets in jail. During that time, you have to go to the police station and do haziri and stuff like that. Then a few days ago, I got up and said let’s go to the police station for attendance. My driver told me that you are free now. I mean it has not hit me yet, actually.

RS: What was jail like? Give us a sense of your life in jail.

SD: Well, jail is jail. I just want to say one thing: it’s not being impris­oned physically, they put your mind in jail. Small things: you can’t pick this cup up, you can’t pick that dirt up, you know. They tell you what to do and that’s the killer. The killer thing is to imprison some­body’s mind where you can’t do what you want to do. But jail is jail. My day used to start at six in the morning. Initially, I used to crib and cry and think about my family, my kids. But then I told myself, let me use this time in a positive way. And I started working out. I was in soli­tary confinement: all alone in that one yard, because of security rea­sons. So I did a lot of running and a lot of free-hand exercises and I used to go and do a lot of puja, read the Shiv Puran, the Ganesh Puran, the Mahabharata, the Bhagwad Gita, the Ramayana, So, I have become more of a pundit, actually.

RS: And how did you lift weights in jail? You didn’t have weights in jail.

SD: I tried to tell them to give me some weights but they said you will kill yourself, beat yourself with those. So I couldn’t have weights. But they send you food cans, called favda. So, I used to fill water in those and then use those as dumbbells. And I would use bed sheets and do isometrics. I used to do free-hand, knuckle-dips and a lot of boxing on wooden beans out there. It’s just to break the pain factor, you know, when you keep hitting the beans so your knuckles start breaking. But you can’t stop. You’ve got to go through that pain and you’ve got to keep hitting. My hands have become like rock.

RS: I thought they were always like rock, right?

SD: They’ve become like iron, then.

RS: What about food? How bad was the food?

SD: If you want to lose weight, there is nothing like jail.

RS: That’s why we should send more politicians there. That’s another story for another day, but what was the food like?

SD: The food was terrible. I ate chane ki dal for one year and there’s this one vegetable, I don’t know if you all have heard about it or eaten, it is called rajgira: has anybody heard about that? It’s like palak, lit­tle bit, and it’s not edible at all. So, I asked this guy, “What is this?” He said, rajgira. I asked, “Who eats it?” He said, “Even donkeys don’t eat it.”

RS: Are you saying that you’ve got no VIP treatment? You were this big Hindi film star and no VIP treat­ment? Were they still, ‘Angrez ke zamaane ke jailer’?

SD: This concept is totally wrong that I got VIP treatment there. I was treated worse than any normal con­vict, because everybody felt I was getting special treatment. I felt as if I was back in the British days: when the superintendent comes, you have to squat down and wait for him to pass and all that stuff. You can’t stand up and do namaskar. You have to sit down every time he was on his official round or anything like that. I don’t know why they don’t change the jail manual. It’s 100 years old.

RS: But you did some fun things, too. You were a radio jockey in jail and you earned Rs 450 for making paper baskets.

SD: I was making paper bags and it’s pretty good. I’ve become an expert in it. It carries about five kg and is eco-friendly. So with every paper bag I made 10 paise. In three years, I made 450 bucks.

RS: What did you do with those 450 bucks?

SD: I gave them to my wife. I said this is what I have earned for you in three years.

RS: I remember your father used to say, “My son may have done something wrong as per as the law, but he is not a terrorist.” Was that something that haunted you, because Sunil Dutt was someone who, perhaps felt most affected by what had happened.

SD: Of course, it haunted me all these years. It really affected my family, my father specially, because my family is a family of patriots and we love our country. I cannot even think about harming my beautiful country ever and I was put in this case. But I want to thank the people of this country who never believed it. I came out and I bounced back because of them. I made Vastav, I made Munnabhai, I made so many films. It was just because of their belief in me and my family, in “Dutt sahib”, in “Nargis ji”, in me. I never let my father down, because he was always proud of me and he just knew that whatever I may have done, it was never terror­ism. You know, before he died he told me, “I am always proud of you and I will always be proud of you”. That for me was a moment which I can never forget. He was a man who spoke less. He never told me, “Son, what a fantastic work you have done.” He never told me, “Come and give me a hug.” But that was the day he hugged me and he told me that “I am proud of you”. And that means I must have done something good”.

RS: But do you have any regrets of that day in 1993 when in a restricted area you kept those AK-56 weapons in your house?

SD: I don’t have any.

RS: And then you tried to destroy them.

SD: I don’t have any regrets but I learnt a lot of things from it. I have learnt not to be brash, I learnt about the law of the land. That’s the best part, you know, you should know the law of the country and you won’t make a mistake. I promise you that.

RS: You are still called “Sanju baba” although you are 56 now? Even in jail, I am told, they called you, “Sanju baba?”

SD: Yeah, they did, Sir.

RS: Are you still “Sanju baba” or have you finally, after all these years, become Sanjay Dutt?

SD: I think, for the people, the audi­ence and my fans, I’ll always be that “baba.” Even in jail, I mean they used to call me “Sanju baba.” So, I was like, what’s your age buddy and how come I am a baba? They used to say: “We love to call you “Sanju baba.” So I used to feel I am baba, some baba from ashram.

RS: That haircut, where did you get that? I am told that you got that also in jail? Tell us that story.

SD: You know, initially I was so depressed, I had grown a beard, a white beard. So every week they would send this barber to give you a shave and all that. This guy, his name is Mishra ji, he came to me and said, “Baba, please get this beard cut.” I said, “Leave it, Mishra ji.” He said, he would style my hair for me. I asked him where he belonged to. He said, Jaunpur. I said, “Do whatever you want to.” So, he gave me this look. I was pretty impressed. Then he said, don’t cut your hair. I asked why and he said, “Grow a ponytail.” I said, “Ok, I will grow a ponytail.” He said, give it a golden colour when you move out.” So, I have got this ponytail because of Mishra ji.

RS: Are you going to use that in cin­ema? Is this going to be the new look of Sanjay Dutt?

SD: I haven’t thought about it but Vidhu Vinod Chopra told me it’s interesting, don’t cut it.

(The conversation is from the India Today Conclave 2016)

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