History repeats itself as Sanjay treads Sunil's path

When Sunil Dutt landed in the city of Nawabs in 1949 to pursue a career, he could never have dreamt that some day his son too would come here to kick start his political career.

Nearly 60 years down the line, history is repeating itself since like Dutt senior, who captalised on his Lucknow stay to make it big in Bollywood and later in politics, Dutt junior too is relying on the city to build his political career having already reached the top as a film star.

And Dutt junior's candidature from here has evoked a nostalgic response, specially from the locality, where his father, then known as Akhtar among friends and locals, stayed for four years working with All India Radio (AIR).

"For me Sanjay is like my brother," said Raees Rizvi, current owner of the house where a young Sunil Dutt spent nearly half a decade of his life.

Going by her claims, her uncle Syed Muzaffar Hasan, who served in the Punjab Army at that time, brought Dutt senior to Lucknow in 1949.

Once in the city, Sunil settled in Hasan's house located in the narrow by-lanes of Ganne Wali Gali in Aminabad locality.

"He was here to pursue his education and a career," she said adding Dutt senior left the city in 1953 for Mumbai to chase his celluloid dream.

In that city, Sunil Dutt not only became a top Bollywood star but also a successful politician as he went to the Lok Sabha five times from the North West Mumbai constituency and even became a Union minister before his death in 2005.

Though most of the people who were witness to Sunil Dutt's Lucknow sojourn are no more living, house number 102, where he stayed, still exists.

The house is currently owned by two women Raees Rizvi and Sarkar Jahan Rizvi, who are elated at Sanjay's decision to contest parliamentary elections from the Lucknow seat.

"Though we have not met Sanjay, we still feel he is very fimiliar to us. After all, his father had a deep connection with the city. We consider him to be a member of our family," Raees said.

A bit nostalgic, Raees claimed that her grandmother used to say that one day, like Sunil his son too would come to Lucknow.

"My grandmother used to say that one day Sunil's son would step into his father's shoes. Her words came true," she claimed.

Like, Raees, locals cliamed that Dutt senior visited the place a number of times during his lifetime.

And they want Sanjay to visit the place as well.

Now that Sanjay has decided to make his political debut from the city, local residents wish him all success.

"We feel that like his father, Sanjay too would be a good politician. All we can do is to convey our best wishes to him for his new venture," Rashida said.