Daily Chennai - Tamilnadu, India

“Act till the age of 100, I have taken away only six years….” says Judge Kode

Rejecting actor Sanjay Dutt’s emotional plea on Tuesday for time to surrender after he was given a six-year jail term in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, Judge P. D. Kode told the Bollywood star not to lose faith in himself as he was “Number One” in films.

“Act till the age of 100; I have only taken away six years,” Judge Kode of the special TADA court told Dutt hours after sentencing him to rigorous imprisonment for six years for illegal possession of weapons.

Noting that Dutt was “Number One in the film line”, Mr. Kode said he had liked the actor’s performances very much and advised him to have faith in himself.

Mr. Kode’s comments came while he was hearing Dutt’s plea for more time to surrender. After hearing the pronouncement of the sentence earlier in the day, Dutt had gone to the witness box with folded hands and sought permission to speak in the court.

“Sir, I made a mistake 14 years ago. Please give me some time to surrender,” pleaded the actor who turned 48 this past Sunday.

When the court took up the plea later, Dutt told the Judge: “I am very tired, Sir. I just need your blessings.”

“Don’t get perturbed, for you have many years to go and work like the ‘Mackenna’s Gold’ actor Gregory Peck,” Mr. Kode told the Bollywood star in an informal conversation that lasted almost ten minutes.

In an apparent attempt to cheer up Sanjay Dutt, Mr. Kode told him that he had seen the actor’s performance with his late father Sunil Dutt in the much talked about film “Munnabhai MBBS”: “In the film, your father looked much better than you!” the Judge said.

Sanjay Dutt conducted himself in a restrained manner throughout the proceedings. His face looked gaunt, revealing that he must have had a sleepless night, but he did not break down.

Uncertainty in Bollywood

With Sanjay Dutt sentenced to six years’ imprisonment, more than Rs.100 crore riding on him in upcoming films would now remain in limbo as the actor’s future remains uncertain.

“More than Rs.100 crore is riding on Sanjay Dutt and his sentencing is a definite setback for directors like Sanjay Gadhvi, Abbas Mustan and Rajkumar Hirani who have major projects planned with him,” Trade Guide editor Tarun Adarsh told PTI here.

“Some of his major projects include ‘Kidnap’ with Gadhvi, ‘Mr Fraud’ with Mustan and of course the third instalment of the Munnabhai series with Hirani, all of which will now be on hold,” said Adarsh. Source:Hindu

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