Ram Kamal Mukherjee in his own words admits, “Sanjay is an enigma. While writing this book I went through a seesaw of emotions.” Mukherjee, an award-winning writer, filmmaker, recently came up with a biography of Sanjay Dutt, Bollywood’s bad boy. The 190-page book comprising 13 elaborate chapters tracing his growth as a human being and an icon for other superstars from Bollywood, is more of an analysis and case study done by the former editor in chief of Stardust magazine.
The book, Sanjay Dutt: One Man, Many Lives, published by Rupa, is different from the film Sanju. Mukherjee asserts that it is an uncut, untold and uncensored tale of the actor’s life. Over to Mukherjee…
- Why another book on Sanjay Dutt?
I guess, the more the merrier, when it comes to an interesting subject like Sanjay Dutt. I would not like to discuss about Yaseer Usmaan’s book because he had his own perspective. I started working on Sanjay Dutt immediately after I finished my biography on Hema Malini (Hema Malini: Beyond the Dream Girl).
It took some time for me to get the facts checked before hitting the press because when you are writing about a celebrity or a personality you must crosscheck facts. I am thankful to my publisher, Rupa Publication and Dibakar Ghosh who had the guts to publish this book and not chicken out saying, ‘Now that we already have one book in the market we cannot afford another!’
- How is your relationship with the actor?
I don’t think I have any relationship with Sanjay. In fact, that worked brilliantly for the book. Hemaji and I share a bonding of almost two decades, so it was comparatively easier to get access to her while writing the book. But with Sanjay it was a completely different take. Even before I could approach him for an authorised book, he had announced his memoirs. Meanwhile, I had already finished my research and first draft of the book. I was sure that he wouldn’t like his memoir to clash with my biography.
- If this book was an authorised biography, how different would it be?
It would have been great. But my fear was that not many actors in our country allow biographers to be honest. They try and skip the grey areas and that’s what makes it a monochromatic book. But I made sure that I was true to my subject and did not hurt any sentiments.
- What kind of research went into writing this book?
The research was thorough and intense. Several incidents had to be dropped out of the book because we couldn’t validate them. I didn’t want to randomly write things about Sanjay that would later get a denial from him. My colleague Chandrima Pal (who also edited the book) and Nari Hira, the owner of Magna Publications, helped me a lot in sourcing facts. I am thankful to my colleague and noted author Hussain S Zaidi for helping me with his valuable inputs.
- While presenting the life of a personality as controversial as Sanjay Dutt, what kind of challenges did you face?
There is not just one, but many controversial incidents in Sanjay’s life. Every incident mentioned in the book has been backed with Sanjay’s official statements and I have also quoted reputed journalists from leading publications to validate the statement. I treated myself as a narrator of a story. I didn’t try to create an opinion or impose one.
- Do you believe that he has been wronged by the media?
Not at all. If you are a celebrity, then brickbats and bouquets are a part of your life. I feel that most celebrities blame media for being unfair and unkind. But media is not meant to be a friend. They are here to report. If you have achieved something great, they will praise you and if you have done something punishable, they will take a strong stand. I personally feel that Sanjay is fond of journalists and photographers, he might have had a few bad experiences, but that cannot be generalised.
This biography and the one on Hema Malini have put together beautiful and rare collection of their photographs. You have a fascination for depicting stories through pictures.
An image can convey more than a thousand words. I believe that if you have images to tell stories, then that could be a parallel interesting point for a reader. I don’t know how much reading habit we are inculcating in our next generation, it’s more of a visual medium that they are getting inclined. And when we are talking about people from the world of glamour and glitz, it’s obvious that readers will expect images.
