Nargis Dutt’s death left a huge impact on Sanjay Dutt, who was just 21 at that time and was all set to mark his acting debut. With Nargis staying sick for almost a year, Sanjay Dutt’s father, Sunil Dutt and sisters Priya and Namrata, mostly stayed in the New York city, where the actress was undergoing her cancer treatment. Around this time, Sanjay got addicted to drugs, that wasted several years of his life visiting rehabs. The actor was also depressed as he couldn’t fulfill his mother’s last wish of showing her his debut film.
In a recent interview with Vickey Lalwani, Sanjay Dutt’s younger sister, Priya Dutt, recalled the time from 1980-81 that changed their lives forever. She shared, “Sanju’s drug abuse had started while our mother was sick.” Things went out of control after nobody was at home to keep a check on the actor’s whereabouts. Priya shared, “As he was here (India) most of the time. Nobody had the time to keep a check on him, because our focus then was our mom and her illness.”
Priya shared things got worse after their mother’s death. The tragedy pushed Sanjay further in his shell, where he barely spoke or expressed his feelings.
“Mom’s passing away really took a toll on him.” Nargis, who was sick, wanted her son to make his acting debut without any delay. To motivate the now star, Nargis promised to be there for the movie’s premiere even if she had to come on a stretcher. Priya shared, “Mom often warned him that his movie has to be released and that she will be there for him.”
Sanjay Dutt’s Rocky was all set to release on May 6. “My dad had made all the preparations, and planned to take mom on a wheel chair to the movie premiere.” But, just three days before the film’s release, Nargis lost her battle with cancer and breathed her last on May 3, leaving Sanjay Dutt shattered. “This was extremely hard on him that she was not able to see his debut movie. Rocky’s premiere happened and we kept a seat empty for mom next to papa”, shared Priya.
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Rocky did well at the box office and even became the 10th highest-grossing film of the year, but this success meant nothing to Sanjay Dutt, who was still regretting not showing his debut film to his mother. The regret boosted his drug abuse, making Sunil Dutt send the actor to various rehabilitation centres in both India and Germany, but nothing helped.
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Priya shared, “It took about 3 to 3.5 years for bhaiya to recover. He went to a couple of rehab centres in Germany, and here too, but it didn’t help. Then he went to the US, where he stayed for nine months. We had no connection with him for those nine months. Dad was not allowed to stay with him. The counsellors there said this boy just doesn’t open up. They were looking for a trigger point for him to open up.”
When the counsellors reached Sunil Dutt with the same concern, the actor immediately sent a voice note once recorded by Nargis for her son Sanju.
“They played the voice note from mom to bhaiya during a counselling session. This triggered him. After the incident, he broke down completely and that changed everything.”
Previously speaking on the Simi Garewal show, Sanjay Dutt shared he got addicted to drugs after randomly trying it during his college days. “I could not recall a phase when I was really at peace. It was just the ‘in’ thing at that time. Somebody just said try it and that was it. For nine years of my life, I was lost.”
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It was after his visit to the United States that changed his life. After spending about nine months at a rehab there, the actor returned to India. Here, his peddlers were waiting for him with new substances. This time, however, the actor rejected the offer. Recalling the moment, he told at India Today conclave, “That day I knew that I had won the battle.”