Sanjay Dutt had a hunger to prove himself in Naam: Mahesh Bhatt

Talking about Naam and working with Salim Khan, Mahesh Bhatt said, “I loved Naam especially because I worked with Salim Khan sir, he was an extraordinary limb of that film. He was going through a lean phase due to the Salim-Javed split, and was looking for a film that could get him that kind of acclaim. Rajendra Kumar sahab decided to make this film, Sanju (Sanjay Dutt) had returned from the US after getting rid of his drug addiction and he had that hunger because he felt he had let his father down, so he wanted to prove himself. When all authentic needs are met, something great happens. The major locomotive of Naam was Salim sahab.”

He even praised Kumar Gaurav and Nutan for their contribution to the film and said, “Kumar Gaurav was outstanding in the film, and Sanju’s performance stands in the film because of him. Nutanji was like a gift to the film, she was something else. Even if the shift started at 9:30 am, she would arrive at 7 am to prepare alone for the role, that was a different kind of discipline. She was an outstanding actor.”

 

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Sharing an incident where he approached Dilip Kumar for a film, the filmmaker shared, “We had reached very close to having Dilip Kumarji on board. Mushir-Riaz (producer duo) had approached us and the conversations had started too. Those days due to some price negotiations, their equations had deteriorated.  Salim sahab wanted Dilip sahab to do a film so he asked me to check with him, I called him and he said, ‘I do not mean any disrespect, I am not someone who would manipulate dates and keep pushing the meeting. The problem is that Mushir is very stingy when it comes to money, his hands don’t go into his pocket easily.’ Due to money negotiations, things couldn’t materialize.”

An earlier version of the article mentioned that Mahesh Bhatt wanted to cast Dilip Kumar in Naam. This information is untrue. The error is regretted.