Thursday, May 26, 2005

Dutt Saab 1929-2005. But must we?

Shocked Bollywood mourns death of Sunil Dutt. I am an admirer of Dutt and his commitment-driven politics, loyalty (some may call his loyalty to a family misplaced but loyalty is a virtue nevertheless) and magnificent persona.

But as happens with all people who pass away, the obituaries exaggerate. Some now say he was a brilliant actor. Now that's certainly overstating things, in typical Bollywood style. He was a great human being and an honest politician, but when it came to acting, he was just about good. Pick his best films and see for yourself.

He had a great voice and very intense eyes, two essentials for anyone aspiring to be an actor. He also used them the best, but not enough to warrant allegations of being brilliant. Nope. Truth doesn't hurt.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nope..Truth hurts..I really loved him in 'Mother India' and 'Milan' and another one in which he was a dacoit and he abducted waheeda Rehman, a dancer,,,which movie was it? -Rimjhim

Sony said...

I have to agree with the previous comment.
He is truly brilliant in 'Mother India'. He showed his versatility in 'Padosan'.

And in 'Nagin' he is superb (ok maybe I am going over the top now ;-)

'Anonymous' I think you are thinking of 'Mujhe Jeene Do':-))

Kamakaze said...

Rimjhim: I'm not saying he was bad, but he was just about good. Mother India and Milan were great movies and he had great roles in them. Still, he was nowhere near brilliant. In the hands of good directors, even Dharmendra and Jeetendra and their sons have managed to perform.

Sony: He may have played the lead in Padosan, but give that role to any actor worth the makeup ahd he/she would do well in that role. I have watched many Dutt movies, including the brilliant Mujhe Jeene Do, but never found him brilliant. Strictly personal opinion, but slotting him in the brilliant category lowers the bar for brilliant. Where do we put Dilip Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan and the like?

Anonymous said...

Yeah..I think it was Mujhe jeene do..Thanks, Sony!

yeah, K......, I'm not disputing ur judgement of Dutt as an actor..I just said..truth hurts..
-Rimjhim

Thapz said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Thapz said...

I don't know about all this shit whether he was a good politician or a bad politician / good actor or a bad actor... What I know is that he could have easily qualified as the mascot and brand ambassador of Johnnie Walker Scotch whisky.