{"id":673183,"date":"2026-05-30T00:52:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T00:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/673183\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T00:52:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T00:52:09","slug":"when-sunil-dutt-revealed-why-he-sought-bal-thackerays-help-during-sanjay-dutts-1993-case-and-his-friendship-with-haji-mastan-hindi-movie-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/673183\/","title":{"rendered":"When Sunil Dutt revealed why he sought Bal Thackeray\u2019s help during Sanjay Dutt\u2019s 1993 case and his friendship with Haji Mastan | Hindi Movie News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"When As Sanjay Dutt<\/a> remains one of Bollywood\u2019s most talked-about stars, conversations around the turbulent phase of his life during the 1993 Mumbai blasts<\/a> case continue to resurface even today. One such moment was veteran actor and politician Sunil Dutt<\/a> candidly opening up about seeking help from Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray when his son was arrested under TADA and the Arms Act.During an appearance on Rajat Sharma\u2019s \u2018Aap Ki Adalat\u2019, Sunil Dutt had spoken honestly about the difficult period and explained why he approached Bal Thackeray despite being ideologically opposed to Shiv Sena politics.At the time, Maharashtra was governed by the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance, and Sanjay Dutt was facing serious charges linked to illegal possession of weapons in the aftermath of the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts.Sunil Dutt revealed that actor Rajendra Kumar had advised him to meet Bal Thackeray for help.\u201cBal Thackeray ji is my old friend. I have known him since before I entered politics. He respects me and I respect him,\u201d Sunil Dutt had said on the show.Explaining why he approached the Shiv Sena chief, the veteran actor said it was a practical decision because Thackeray held influence in the state government at the time.\u201cAt that time, it was his government. And you may remember, he himself used to say that the remote control was with him. If somebody has the key and the remote control, naturally a person will go to him,\u201d he explained.Sunil Dutt further compared the situation to taking an unwell child to the right specialist.\u201cIf my son is sick, I will take him to a doctor. If there is a political problem, I will go to a politician. That is the reason,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u2018I did not compromise my principles\u2019<\/p>\n

During the conversation, Rajat Sharma questioned Sunil Dutt about whether taking help from Bal Thackeray amounted to compromising on his principles, especially since he had always publicly opposed communal politics.However, the actor strongly denied compromising his ethics.\u201cNo, absolutely not. Had I joined Shiv Sena because they helped my son, then it would have been compromising my principles,\u201d he responded.Sunil Dutt also pointed out that he later contested elections against Shiv Sena candidates, proving there was no political deal involved.\u201cI fought elections against their candidates. Not once, but twice,\u201d he said.He also clarified that Bal Thackeray never imposed any conditions on him in return for helping Sanjay Dutt.\u201cHe never told me not to contest elections or put any condition before me. Small-minded people think like that. Bal Thackeray was not like that,\u201d Sunil Dutt added.<\/p>\n

Sunil Dutt on Sanjay Dutt\u2019s troubled phase<\/p>\n

During the same interview, Sunil Dutt also spoke emotionally about Sanjay Dutt\u2019s difficult teenage years, drug addiction and the trauma of losing his mother Nargis just days before the release of his debut film \u2018Rocky\u2019 in 1981.The veteran actor admitted that Sanjay was extremely close to his mother and struggled to cope with her death.\u201cHe was very close to his mother and she was very close to him. He could not handle her death,\u201d Sunil Dutt had said.Recalling the heartbreaking days before Nargis\u2019 passing, Sunil Dutt revealed that she desperately wanted to attend Sanjay\u2019s film premiere despite her deteriorating health.\u201cShe kept saying, \u2018I will definitely go and watch my son\u2019s premiere.\u2019 We had arranged an ambulance, wheelchair and everything. But she passed away on May 3, while the premiere was on May 7,\u201d he recalled.Sunil Dutt said Sanjay was emotionally shattered and conflicted at the time.\u201cHe was a young boy. He did not know whether he should cry or celebrate because his first film had released,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u2018Underworld people knew me too\u2019<\/p>\n

Sunil Dutt also addressed long-standing perceptions about Sanjay Dutt\u2019s alleged underworld links and candidly admitted that he himself knew several underworld figures socially, like many people in the film industry at the time.\u201cWhy should I lie? Mastan was a very good friend of mine. Karim Lala was also my friend,\u201d he admitted.However, he clarified there was a difference between social interaction and criminal involvement.\u201cIf an artist starts helping them in smuggling or crime, then that is wrong. But film people used to meet everyone socially. They attended film parties too,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Sanjay Dutt remains one of Bollywood\u2019s most talked-about stars, conversations around the turbulent phase of his life…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":673184,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[270098,293645,293641,88,293644,206,293643,117743,293642,270101,293647,293646],"class_list":["post-673183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-1993-mumbai-blasts","tag-aap-ki-adalat","tag-bal-thackeray","tag-entertainment","tag-haji-mastan","tag-movies","tag-rajendra-kumar","tag-sanjay-dutt","tag-shiv-sena","tag-sunil-dutt","tag-sunil-dutt-on-sanjay-dutt-1993-mumbai-blasts","tag-sunil-dutt-sought-bal-thackerays-help"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=673183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673183\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/673184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=673183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=673183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=673183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}