The Importance Of Being Sanju

I had confused feelings when I first heard the judgement on Sanjay Dutt last week. My initial thoughts were how would Sanjay Dutt, the loveable Munnabhai of Bollywood, cope with six years of jail. But at the same time, the fact that our judicial system had viewed him as a citizen, who went against the law, not considering his Bollywood celebrity status, was reassuring.

The news channels kept beaming his images all day long, in addition to interviews of scores of Bollywood icons refuting the “unfair” verdict. The next day, newspapers were splashed with statements of every possible Bollywood actor condemning his imprisonment.

And that’s when it got on my nerves.

I know Mr. Dutt only from his films, but when the whole of Bollywood says, I can acknowledge that he is a nice guy. But does that take away the fact that (at one point of time) he was involved with the underworld and was in possession of arms? The law took its course, even if delayed, so why is the issue getting undeserved mileage? Sanju, might be a much-adulated public figure, but why is he being depicted as a child of a Higher God, who has been wronged in every way possible? Even a week after the trial, not an hour goes by when the news channels don’t have someone or the other voicing their sympathies to Sanju baba.

I’m not against Sanjay Dutt, nor do I have a problem if he is let off. But this issue is no longer about an individual. In a country where millions languish in jails, there would be many among them who would have undergone a transformation from their criminal past to a humane present or several innocent ones who are imprisoned without even being guilty. Has Bollywood thought about them? Would it be just to give preferrential treatment to an individual due to his star status and absolve him of his past guilts? If today one star gets to distort justice, tomorrow we may have others, who by their influence and media’s endorsement, will get away with more.

India is a free land and everyone of us has a right to opinion. But why are our news channels and newspapers trying to project this through the eyes of celebs by giving them undeserving coverage to lobby for an individual?

Have we run out of pertinent issues that impact the lives of a collective nation that the entire Indian media has the spotlight on a single man?