The regional papers had literally cried for his blood. They wanted his films banned. They wanted his father arrested. But the sharp rhetoric has taken a Uturn in less than a week after his arrest. and now there is a wave of sympathy for actor Sunjay Dutt and his family from practically all quarters, including some unlikely once.
Words of comfort have come from Shatrughan Sinha of the BJP, who has appealed to the film fraternity not to turn its back on the Dutt family during its time of crisis. Sinha has said that though he belonged to arrival party he had great “respect” for Suni! Dutt and the film community should have stood behind th01*e MP since he was a sincere human being.
But even more surprising is that the Shiv Sena, which had been calling for a ban on the screening of all Sanjay Dutt starrers past and present, has had a change of heart, Sena organ Samna on Sunday carried a statement from Bal Thackeray appealing to people to allow the screening of the a~ tor’s films. ‘The change of heart took place after a delegation of producers met the Sena leader on Thursday evening. Thackeray has said that he had lifted the ban since the move would have serious repercussions on producers and the film industry in general, However, according to producers there is a distinct softening of Thacheray’s earlier tough stand. The Sena ban on A.K. Hangal has also been lifted.
Thackeray, whose paper was as guilty of printing slanderous stories naming other film stars as the tabloid press, has also appealed to papers to refrain from dragging in the names of other actors in the conspiracy. In the past few days, the regional press has been having afield day naming other stars who the papers said had been interrogated. The reports have proved to be wide of the mark. Suddenly there is a flood of statements from actors and actresses expressing their support to Dutt, and those who have known Sunjay Dutt closely are being quoted in local press as being a sensitive person who could not have indulged in terrorism. There is also the opinion that he should not be held under TADA and should be punished under the Arms Act.
Article extracted from this publication >> May 14, 1993
