SANJAY DUTT’S black Land Cruiser has an all-male tag line etched on its spare tyre cover, ‘Rugged and reliable, designed especially for those who enjoy the ultimate.’ Zipping in the SUV with a blood-smeared, shredded, beige Pathani suit-clad Dutt spears home the point, even if he does have a pink lighter. Puffing on his trademark Marlboro Lights, Bollywood’s badmash is making the most of his lunch break on the sets of Milan Luthria’s Deewar—Let’s Bring Our Heroes Home. I search for those familiar Dutt-during-an-interview-telltale signs. You know, the ambivalent gaze and that edgy behaviour. But the 44-year-old seems relaxed. The quiet success of Munnabhai MBBS helps in an industry which goes looking for a new king every Friday. Restlessness still visits him but Dutt says he is, finally, at peace with himself. He is growing up, this actor who not too long ago used to get up in the middle of the night fretting about the future. But for the industry and his fans, he’s still baba. Dutt stares (all those warnings about provoking his sinewy 6’1’’ frame are buzzing about in my head), then breaks into a shy smile and replies, ‘‘I don’t know why they persist in calling me that. I guess it’s because they love me too much. Somehow they never grew out of it.’’ Good friend Suniel Shetty, or anna, says the actor is on an upswing, both on a personal and professional level. ‘‘The guy’s in the best phase of his life. He has quit drinking and is on a strict boiled-food-only diet.’’ Shetty, who has known Dutt for a decade now, can’t get over the actor’s newfound will power. ‘‘It’s virtually impossible for someone who used to drink all the time to leave it overnight. But he has handled all the withdrawal symptoms on his own,’’ he says. Dutt tells you that his motivation to kick the bottle was simply that ‘‘things are getting better, so I want to work a little harder.’’ Life is being kind and he’s decided to set right his unprofessional ways. Dutt says his motivation to kick the bottle was simply that ‘things are getting better, so I want to work a little harder’So these days his producers are pleasantly surprised to see the usually tardy actor reach the sets on time, often before most. He’s also becoming more accessible. Last month saw him perform at a filmi awards’ function—a first in his 23-year-old career. But some things never change. Dutt still puts his friends first; money and the length of the role be damned. He played what Pooja Bhatt calls ‘‘second fiddle’’ in her 1998 flick Dushman because of his close friendship with the Bhatts. ‘‘Till date, he hasn’t asked me for money,’’says Bhatt.
