Sunil Dutt was a famous Indian film actor, social activist, and politician. His real name was Balraj Dutt. During his lifetime, he performed different duties perfectly and at the same time also worked for the welfare of general public. Due to his exceptional contribution to the society, he won numerous awards as well as titles, and his fans today remember him not just an actor of Hindi Cinema but also a great personality of India. Check out Sunil DuttĀ wiki, age, family, wife, death cause, biography, facts & more.
Biography/Wiki
Sunil Dutt was born on 6 June 1928 in a Khurd villageĀ of Jhelum, Punjab (now in Pakistan). When he was five years old, his father Diwan Raghunath Dutt died. At the age of 18, he witnessed the Hindu-Muslim riots after the partition of India. His father’s friend Yakub saved Sunil’s entire family including his mother Kulwantidevi Dutt, brotherĀ Som Dutt, and a sisterĀ Raj Rani Bali from these riots, and theyĀ resettled in the small village of Mandauli, Yamuna Nagar in Punjab (Now in Haryana).
Then, he with his mother shifted to Lucknow and lived in Aminabad Galli. After a short period of time, they moved to Mumbai, where he joined Jai Hind College and completed his graduation in 1954. For a short while, Sunil also did a job in the ‘Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport’ (BEST) division.
Then, he decided to make a career in the Indian Cinema and worked in many super hit movies. During 1950 to 1960, he was one of the top actors of Bollywood.
Sunil won Filmfare Best Actor Award for the movies- ‘Mujhe Jeene Do‘ in 1963 andĀ for ‘Khandan‘ in 1965. In 1964, heĀ got National Film Award for the film ‘Yaadein.’ In 1967, he won BFJA award for Best Actor for the movie ‘Milan.’
In 1968, he received the ‘Padma Shri‘ from the Indian Government.Ā In 1995, he won the ‘Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award‘ for his valuable contribution to the Indian film industry.Ā In 1998, he got ‘Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Award‘ from the Government of India.
He was honoured with Lifetime Achievement Award three more times; first by Star Screen in 1997, second by Anandalok Awards in 2000, and third by Zee Cine Award in 2001.
InĀ 2005, he acquired the ‘Phalke Ratna Award‘ by the Dadasaheb Phalke Academy. IIFS, London also honoured him with the ‘Glory of India Award.’
On 25 May 2005, at the age of 76, he died of heart attack at his home in Bandra Mumbai and was cremated with complete state honours at Santacruz Crematorium in Mumbai.
Family, Caste & Wife
Sunil Dutt belongs to a Punjabi family from Jhelum district in Pakistan. His father Diwan Raghunath Dutt died when he was just five years old. He, his brother Som Dutt, and sisterĀ Raj Rani Bali were reared by hisĀ mother Kulwantidevi Dutt in India after shifting from Pakistan.
Sunil felt loveĀ for the actress Nargis during the making of a movie ‘Mother India.’Ā It is believed that Sunil saved Nargis from the fire that happened on the setĀ of the movie ‘Mother India.’ Nargis got the attraction for Sunil after this incidence. Succeeding in an affair of one year, they got married on 11 March 1958. With time, Nargis gave birth to a son Sanjay Dutt, who is now a successful actor of Bollywood and two daughters Priya Dutt, a former member of Parliament and Namrata Dutt who is married to Kumar Gaurav, son of Hindi film actor Rajendra Kumar.
Career
After working in ‘BEST,’ Sunil joined South Asia’s oldest radio station ‘Radio Ceylon’ and earned a good reputation. Then, in 1955, he entered into the Indian film industry with the movie ‘Railway Platform.’
In 1957, he came into limelight with the movie ‘Mother India‘ in which he performed as a short-tempered son of Nargis. During the 1950s, Sunil remained a superstar of Indian Cinema for many years and gave several super hit movies such as ‘Sadhna‘ (1958), ‘Sujata‘ (1959), ‘Mujhe Jeene Do‘ (1963), ‘Khandan‘ (1965), ‘Padosan‘ (1967), ‘Gumraah‘ (1963), ‘Waqt‘ (1965), ‘Hamraaz‘ (1967) and many more.
In 1964, he directed and produced a movie ‘Yaadein‘ in which he and Nargis were the only stars. Then, he directed the movies like ‘Man Ka Meet,’ starring his brother Som Dutt inĀ 1968, and ‘Reshma Aur Shera‘ in 1971. However, these films could prove successful on box office.
During the 1970s, his movies ‘Heera‘ (1973), ‘Pran Jaye Par Vachan Na Jaye‘ (1974), ‘Nagin‘ (1976) and ‘Jaani Dushman‘ (1979) proved blockbusters in theatres and established him as a successful actor in the Indian film industry.
He also performed in some Punjabi religious movies such as ‘Man Jeete Jag Jeet‘ (1973), ‘Dhukh Bhanjan Tera Naam‘ (1974) and ‘Sat Sri Akal‘ (1977).
His wife Nargis wanted to see her son Sanjay on the silver screen, but unfortunately, due to pancreatic cancer, she died on 2 May 1981, just 5 days before the release of Sanjayās first movie āRocky.ā In her memory, Sunil established ‘Nargis Dutt Foundation‘ for the curing of cancer patients. He also sponsored the ‘India Project‘ which helps to treat the children having facial deformities.
In 1982, Maharashtra government appointed him as the ‘Sheriff of Mumbai‘ for one year. Later, in 1984 he became a member of the ‘Indian National Congress‘ party and was elected to the Indian Parliament for 5 terms from the constituency of Mumbai North West.
After working in the movies ‘Parampara‘ (1992) and ‘Kshatriya‘ (1993), he decided to retire from the film industry to pay his full attention to politics.Ā From 2004 to 2005, he remained as a minister of ‘Youth Affairs and Sports‘ of India.
‘Munna Bhai M.B.B.S‘ (2003) was his last movie before death. In this movie; he appeared with his son Sanjay Dutt.
Facts
- Sunil’s favourite writer was Aghajani Kashmeri who was also his best friend.
- His hobbies were doing philanthropy and listening to music.
- He liked to eatĀ Dum Chicken.
- Sunil was a fan of actress Nargis.
- In 1988, he walked from Nagasaki to Hiroshima (Japan) to appeal for the global demilitarization.