‘I dedicate my film to Uttar Pradesh’ Sanjay Dutt in Lucknow

Itishree.Misra@timesgroup.com
Sanjay Dutt, along with wife Maanayata, visited Lucknow to launch the title track of his latest film, recently. Giving him company were the other cast of the film including Lucknowite Ali Fazal, Satyajeet Dubey and Amyra Dastur. Walking in with confidence, leading the pack, Sanjay was in his elements while Ali was enjoying being home. In the press conference, Sanjay and Maanayata spoke about why they chose Lucknow to shoot the film 'Prassthanam' and what they like about the place.“Lucknow and Kanpur are my second homes and I’ve been coming here since I was a kid. Yahan ki tehzeeb, yahan ke log aur yahan ka khana toh sabse achha hai,” said Sanjay, adding, “We shot the film in Lucknow because it’s beautiful. It’s got that feel of India and culture which is what is reflected in our film. In fact, I dedicate Prassthanam to Uttar Pradesh.”
Meanwhile Maanayata, who’s also producing the film, said, “I felt that Uttar Pradesh politics ka gadh hai and the backdrop of this film is politics. It could have been set in any environment but since the backdrop is politics, we felt UP was the best place to set the film in and shoot at. Yes, the subsidy that is provided by the state government is also one of the reasons why we shot here but certainly not just that. Basically it is the politics and the political backdrop that brought us here.”
Ali, who belongs to Lucknow was all smiles at being home and when asked how he liked ot shoot here again, said, “Accha laga yahan shoot karna phir se. Ghar hai so I went home and met my mother. Lucknow bahut bada hissa hai iss film ka, kaafi iconic locations thin so it was good to be back home again.”
(L-R) Ali Fazal, Sanjay Dutt, Maanayata Dutt, Amyra Dastur and Satyajeet Dubey in Lucknow (BCCL/ Vishnu Jaiswal)
For Satyajeet, Lucknow holds a place of much importance as he confessed that three of the four films of his career had been shot in the city.
“My film career began from Lucknow. In 2010 Ali and I shot 'Always Kabhi Kabhi', then I shot 'Kerry On Kutton' in Lucknow and because of that film, I got 'Prassthanam'. Of my four films, three have been shot here. So agar yeh alag desh hota toh shayad mujhe Lucknow ki citizenship mill jati,” said he. Counting his blessings, he went on to say, “This film is very different from what I have done till now and I hope I am able to get out of my sweet boy image with this film.”
Sanjay off late has taken to playing elderly and fatherly characters on screen. When asked why, he replied in his candid way and said, “Shahrukh, Salman are not my contemporaries, I am senior to them. Jackie Shroff, Sunny Deol and me, we came together (in Bollywood), Salman and all came later on. But I choose to move on, because I think it is better. And I choose to do things which suit me and that’s why I choose roles which I feel are closer to my real age.”
Amyra, who was most of the time sitting quiet and smiling, said she had loved shooting in Lucknow. “I've loved Lucknow for of its feel, its people and the food. I really enjoyed the film shoot here. I had loads of mithai while we were shooting her. In fact UP has been my training ground in acting because I have extensively shot here in the beginning of my career,” she said.
Amyra Dastur, Ali Fazal and Satyajeet Dubey also came to Lucknow to release the title track of the film (BCCL/ Vishnu Jaiswal)
Talking about her experience as a producer, Maanayata said, “When we started the production house, he gave me several dos and don’ts. Dos of course were ki picture achhi banana hai, dhamaal aur hit banana hai. They’re the same as any other production house, but the don’ts were very specific and that was that the spot boys would be served food before anyone else. He had told me that generally the spot boys eat food after everyone else has had it and because of that sometimes it gets very late, unko khana khate-khate 4-5 baj jaate hain ya kabhi-kabhi khana milta bhi nahi hai. So Sanju was very particular about this instruction that the spot boys should be served food before everyone else. And the second thing that he emphasized on was that the artist should always be comfortable, because if he or she is not comfortable, then that reflects in his acting and on screen.”
Sanjay Dutt (BCCL/ Vishnu Jaiswal)
Last year, when Sanjay Dutt was shooting in Lucknow, he had met Yogi Adityanath, the UP Chief Minister and expressed a desire to adopt his maternal grandmother Jaddanbai’s village Chilbila, situated in Prayagraj district. While not much has happened on that ground, when quizzed about it, he said “I have spoken to people in Lucknow and there at my nani’s place and I want to make a cancer hospital there in my mother’s name. The work is in progress, ab aap log prarthana kijiye ki who jaldi shuru ho jaye.”
Fans hopeful of seeing the star as Munnabhai can also rest assured as Sanju announced that the a new Munnabhai film is also work in progress.
— Itishree.Misra@timesgroup.com