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Bollywood relieved at Sanjay Dutt being cleared of 'terrorist' tag
29th Nov 2006 14.01 IST
By Agencies

The entire Bollywood fraternity has expressed happiness at Sanjay Dutt being cleared of the ‘terrorist’ tag, saying his conviction on milder charges in the 1993 blasts in Mumbai was for ‘stupid mistakes’ he had made.

"Thank god they did not say he is a terrorist. He is not a terrorist, not a criminal. He is a clear cut good man," Arshad Warsi , Dutt's co-star in Munnabhai MBBS and Lagey Raho Munnabhai , said following the actor's acquittal of charges under TADA by a court in Mumbai.

"Everybody in his life makes stupid mistakes," said Warsi, who played Circuit, the sidekick to Dutt's Munnabhai in two hit films. "It was good that he has got a milder punishment. I think he has suffered enough."

"We thank the almighty that he has been given a milder conviction," Warsi said.

Talking to a news channel, Warsi said Dutt's friends had all been praying for him.

"Thank god they did not say that he is a terrorist. He is not a terrorist, not a criminal...He is a clear cut good man," Warsi said.

Warsi said, "Everybody in his life makes stupid mistakes and every actor in the film industry at one point of time must have thought of possessing a weapon.

"It is the way the country is running," he said, referring to threats recently issued to filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt .

Warsi hoped that Dutt would return home soon "as the whole country loves him".

Director Karan Johar said, "It is heartening to know that finally the verdict is out and he has not been convicted for any conspiracy."

Theatre and film actor Boman Irani said Dutt's conviction on milder charges under the Arms Act gave him a great sense of relief as it removed the "terrorist" tag stuck on him for over a decade. "I hope there is not any sentence."

Shiv Sena leader and former Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi said, "He (Dutt) had made a mistake of keeping a weapon -- an AK-56 rifle -- at his home."

Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh said, "I am very happy that Sanjay was not involved in any conspiracy."

Former police officer Y P Singh said, "Innocent Indians got carried away by the PR exercise launched by Sanjay Dutt which portrayed him as a god-fearing man who visits temples.

"Had a similar incident happened in connection with the 9/11 terror attacks, people in the US would have boycotted the actor," Singh said.

"It is very sad news. I worked with him and I know him to be a nice man. He has bounced back from a lot of lows in his life including (his father) Sunil Dutt saab passing away. I can only say that my prayers are with him," said Nandita Das , who worked with Dutt in Mahesh Manjrekar 's Pitaah .

She, however, appealed to the media not to sensationalise the news, saying, "I know the media will have a field day with this news. But let us not be voyeuristic about this. He is going through a hard time.

"Justice should be done, irrespective of whether he is a big star or not. Let us not target him just because he is a star, nor should he be dealt with leniently because of his celebrity status," she said.

Raima Sen , Dutt's co-star in just completed movie Eklavya , too had sympathetic words for him.

"It is a very sad time for him. My thoughts are with him. I just heard the news and will be SMS-ing him soon," she said.

Attributing the acquittal of Dutt from terrorism charge by a court to Lord Ganesha's blessings on his devotee, singing legend Asha Bhosle said she was happy that he no longer had to face the humiliation of being dubbed a terrorist.

"Today's verdict has shown that Lord Ganesha has blessed Sanjay, his devotee," the singer said.

On the eve of the TADA verdict, Dutt had, like so many occasions in the past, visited the famous Siddhivinayak temple in central Mumbai to offer prayers to Lord Ganesha.

"No artist is a terrorist. I am very delighted that he has been absolved of the terrorism charge," Bhosle said while speaking about Dutt who recently sang along with her in her latest musical video `Asha and Friends'.

Asked how she rated Dutt as a singer, Bhosle said "he is not a classical singer or one in the mould of Mohammad Rafi. Let that be clear. His voice is manly. One feels after listening to him that a collegian is singing".

"For a child of such illustrious parents, life has brought a lot of misery in his way," Bhosle said. "He lost his wife due to cancer and later faced the humiliation of being dubbed as a terrorist. I feel sorry for him," she added.

"One learns from mistakes in life. I am sure this experience would teach him a lot and he would be able to take charge of his life for the better," she said.

Bollywood has a whopping Rs 1.5 billion at stake on Dutt.

Dutt, 47, who could not really savour the success of his latest hit ‘Lage Raho Munnabhai’ because of the impending verdict, was particularly careful in signing new ventures after July. Trade pundits say the actor, who was first arrested when he was playing the lead role in "Khalnayak" a tag which shadowed him for years worked overtime to complete the pending projects as the judgment day neared.

Rs 1.25 billion is locked up on the following Dutt-starrers: Ashtavinayak Films' untitled venture being directed by Abbas-Mastan , Sanjay Gupta 's Shootout At Lokhandwala , Mahindra Dhariwal's ‘Nehle Pe Dehla’ (post-production), David Dhawan 's untitled film and Vidhu Vinod Chopra 's ‘Eklavya’, according to Kumar Mohan, trade analyst and editor of "Complete Cinema".

Another Rs 2.5 million is invested in advertisements featuring Dutt, says Mohan.

While convicting Dutt, the court extended his bail till December 18 and asked him to surrender on December 19.

Dutt’s close friends and film producers Sanjay Gupta and Mahesh Manjrekar hope that the actor would come out clean as he had already spent a year and four months in jail earlier.

Dutt also revived his family production house Ajanta Arts but was yet to undertake new projects under the banner.

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