Emotional homecoming for Sanjay Dutt

INDIA: Sporting a several-day-old stubble and his hair close cropped, Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt walked into his Pali Hill home here to an emotional welcome from his family and friends, after spending 23 nights in Mumbai and Pune prisons.

The actor, who stepped out of Pune’s Yerawada Jail at 7am and took a chartered flight to Mumbai soon after, took most of his fans off guard with his early homecoming.

A large number of fans had been gathering outside his home every day ever since the Supreme Court granted him interim bail on Monday.

Wearing a white striped shirt and blue jeans, Dutt, 48, drove into his home in a black sedan at about 8.30am - just over an hour after gaining freedom.

As the car entered the sprawling residence in the Imperial Heights building in the upmarket Pali Hill neighbourhood, family members and friends from the film fraternity rushed out to welcome him home. After a traditional homecoming puja (prayer), Dutt first kissed nephew Siddharth, sister and Congress MP Priya’s son, and then hugged both sisters Priya and Namrata.

Brother-in-law Kumar Gaurav had flown with him from Pune where Dutt’s fans failed to see their hero walk out of prison because jail authorities decided to release him early in the morning so as to avoid huge crowds.

There, after stepping outside Yerawada Jail, a beaming Dutt shook hands with policemen and, overcome with emotion, even hugged a constable. He then waved to the small media contingent camping outside the prison gates since overnight before speeding off in a car to the airport.

Producer and close family friend Bunty Wallia said from Pali Hill: “He needs to spend time with his family and rest. He may speak to the media who have extended tremendous support throughout his ordeal.”

Dutt’s senior counsel Satish Mane Shinde declined to comment on the future legal steps the actor is contemplating.

“Whether Sanju will start working on his unfinished projects will be decided later. For now, the most important thing for him is to spend time with his family.”

Clearly eager to get into his home, the actor told journalists that he would speak to them after making a few telephone calls and after catching up with family and friends.

Mumbai, Friday, IANS