He was one of the celebrated actors of the time. He was not limited to acting but also worked as producer, director and politician. He is the father of Sanjay Dutt. He is late actor Suneel Dutt. Born as Balraj Dutt on 6 June 1928, Suneel Dutt was a remarkable actor. He was also honoured with the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 1968. On his birth anniversary, let’s have a look on his life.
His life and career
Born in a Punjabi family in Khurd village (now Punjab, Pakistan), Suneel Dutt he was very small when his father died. After partition of India, he had come to India. His family resettled in Punjab and then moved to Lucknow. Later, he moved to Mumbai, where he joined Jai Hind College as an undergraduate and took up a job at the city’s BEST Transport division. Before working in films, he had worked on the Hindi service of Radio Ceylon where he was hugely popular. He made an acting debut in 1955 with Railway Platform. He rose to stardom in the 1957 film Mother India.
He had given industry many successful films which include Sadhna, Sujata, Mujhe Jeene Do, Khandan, Padosan, Gumraah, Waqt, Man Jeete Jag Jeet, Dukh Bhanjan Tera Naam and Sat Sri Akal, Nagin, Hamraaz and many more. He also produced films which were unsuccessful but his stardom as actor was intact. He had been honoured with many prestigious awards for his contribution to Bollywood cinema.
In 1984 he joined the Indian National Congress party and was elected to the Parliament of India for five terms. He was part of Manmohan Singh’s government (2004–2005).
Marriage and kids
He got married to co-star Nargis in 1958. The couple fell in love on the sets of Mother India. The couple had one son Sanjay Dutt, Priya Dutt and Namrata Dutt. His son is a popular actor while daughter Priya Dutt, is a former Member of Parliament.
On 25 May 2005, Suneel Dutt had died of heart attack at his residence in Bandra, Mumbai. At that time, he was the Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports in the Union Government. He was cremated with full state honours.
