MUMBAI: Though a lot has been said about the legendary star couple Nargis and Sunil Dutt, Kishwar Desai's biography on the duo has more to offer by giving a vivid picture of their lives, based on diaries and letters of Nargis, Sunil and their daughter Priya Dutt.
Titled, 'Darlingji' - as the couple often used to address each other, the book tracks the larger landscape of Hindi cinema, of a society and a nation in transition.
"I felt compelled to write about the indomitable faith they had in their love despite their social and religious backgrounds, as also the odds they defeated to be with each other. Their story is a classic example of social cohesion, a good idea of what India was meant to be," Desai said.
"The book documents not only the life of India's two best actors but also a nation in transition, India after the Partition, especially the film industry. It was very important to give the reader a sense of the period and one had to be accurate and objective at the same time," she said.
Desai and her NRI husband, Lord Meghnad Desai, had originally planned to write a book on Nargis. In 2005, they approached Sunil Dutt for the material to write the book.
But the actor passed away the same year. After that, the Dutt family collated all photographs and letters and diaries that Dutt had treasured through his life.
"Priya (Dutt's elder daughter) contacted us about the material needed to be sorted for the book. It took us 10 days. But in the end, not one but two books resulted out of the search," Desai said.
Desai also worked with the Dutt daughters, Namrata and Priya for their book "Mr and Mrs Dutt: Remembering our Parents", released last month.
When asked why a second book on the Dutts after a recent biography, Desai relied: "The first book has been constructed out of the children's memories of their parents. The other one deals with the individuals the actors were. The books are complementary and not in competition with each other."
Apart from personal details collected from the residence of Nargis and Sunil Dutt, the author also spent almost 20 days in the Film Archives of India, Pune and 50 hours of interview with family, relatives, friends and colleagues of the couple.
Narrating her experiences while sifting through the personal details of the star couple, Desai said, "They were an amazingly accomplished couple who had a very difficult life."
But they both loved each other a lot. Even when Nargis was dying of cancer, Sunil did not leave her for a moment, the writer added.
