Sanjay Dutt’s Bollywood debut was meant to be one of the happiest moments of his life. The son of legendary actors Sunil Dutt and Nargis, he was all set to be launched as a leading man with Rocky (1981), directed by his father. However, the family faced a personal tragedy when Nargis was diagnosed with cancer.
By the late 1970s, Sunil Dutt had begun work on Rocky. The family was excited about Sanjay’s debut, and Nargis was deeply involved in the preparations. She was eager to see her son carry forward the family’s cinematic legacy. However, fate had other plans for the family.
“So, mom died of cancer, unfortunately, pancreatic cancer. This was in the early ‘80s, so even the technology we have today wasn’t available back then. There was this massive
surgery that was done. We went to New York and got it done at Sloan Kettering,” said Sanjay, in a recent chat on AIG Hospitals’ YouTube channel.
He added, “There were a lot of complications with her. I was very young then, about 19 or 20. To see my mother go through all of that, we donated platelets, did everything we could. My sisters were younger than me, and it was a very traumatic time.”
The actor said, “My film was about to release as well, so that was another pressure. My father sent me back to complete the film while my mother was in a coma. At that time, I just couldn’t understand it, why complete the film when my mother was in a coma? But anyway, I did that and came back.”
Sanjay recalled Nargis’ final days and said, “I saw her fighting. I think she just wanted to come back home somehow. She kept fighting until she came back, and once she was home, she gave up the fight. We lost her after she returned here.”
One of Sanjay Dutt’s biggest wishes was for his mother to watch Rocky. In later interviews, he recalled how important her opinion was to him and how much he wanted to make her proud. Unfortunately, Nargis passed away on May 3, 1981, just days before Rocky was released in theatres on May 8, 1981. She never got the chance to watch her son’s first film.
