He has served 18 months in jail and will now have to serve the remaining three and a half years of his sentence in jail.Sanjay Dutt who was coming towards the end of his shoot for producer TP Aggarwal’s film Policegiri has left the entire team shocked and shattered.

Co-producer Rahul Aggarwal has given his full support to Sanju and they all are praying and hoping for a change in the sentence as Sanjay Dutt still has a chance to file a review petition against the verdict within the next four weeks. Rahul says, “Only good things happen to good guys and I haven’t found a better human being in this industry.”

I have known him as a brash young boy of 20 years who was taking his baby steps in filmdom when he was being launched by his father the late Sunil Dutt in his film Rocky. The guy was into drugs at that time and reckless too, without a goal in life and both Duttsaab and Nargisji were very perturbed about the state of affairs but hoped that things would improve. I remember the first time I had gone over to their bungalow at Pali Hil to interview Sanjay Dutt at the behest of his father Duttsaab and believe it or not, Sanjay who was very drowsy even refused to talk to me and I had to persuade his mother Mrs. Nargis Dutt to sit down and talk to me.

With the exception of films like Naam and Khalnayak and perhaps the Munnabhai series Munnabhai MBBS and Lage Raho Munnabhai, Sanjay’s films have never clicked in a big way at the box office and he could never capture the number 1 slot in the industry though he could have if only he was focused on his career. It was his ‘sab kuch chalta hai’ attitude that prevented him from becoming a reigning king at the box office, say Salman Khan or Shah Rukh Khan  who arrived in the industry a decade after Sanjay did.

Politicians, celebrities and the public are trying to clear the misinformation against Sanjay Dutt and the FREE MUNNABHAI Petition gains momentum. This movement which was started by one of Sanjay Dutt’s fans has already got more than 1500 signatures. The petition reads thus. ‘It’s a sad day in the history of justice. After suffering for 20 years, Sanjay Dutt is now convicted for 5 more years. Is the legal system supposed to reform people or make them more hardened? Give him his 20 years back and take away 5. He has abided by the law, done tremendous social work always and anyways served 18 months. Is he a threat to the society? No. Then why are we making a good man suffer?’

Sanjay has stated that he now does not want to ask for clemency and will let the law take its own course.

Renowned icons from each and every fraternity are publicly expressing their dismay over actor Sanjay Dutt’s verdict and jail sentence. Not only are the stalwarts from the film industry who rarely ever passionately speak out, constantly asserting their views, national leaders and mass favorites are also speaking out against the wave of ignorance and misinformation with regards to the actor’s verdict, while appealing for a pardon. The wrong perception that his friends are trying to correct is that Sanjay Dutt has been acquitted in all TADA cases and blast cases, and that the only charge against Dutt has been illegal possession of arms. Many leading experts have expressed views that Sanjay Dutt should be shown lenience and mercy given the fact that he has been imprisoned and that he is now a reformed person, with a continually growing and substantial contribution from him to society and its welfare. In 2006 itself, all TADA charges against the actor were dropped.

Dutt has been absolved of all charges in the blasts case by the courts and the court has categorically said that he is not a terrorist. The only charge against him is for the possession of a weapon which was kept to defend his family. The weapon was never used to threaten or harm anyone.

Sanjay Dutt has been getting a lot of support from his near and dear ones in the film industry ever since the verdict regarding his jail sentence was reached. Apart from an outpouring of people from Bollywood, be it his costars, directors, friends or juniors, even his well wishers from the South Industry have been showing their support to him and a majority of them have even taken to social networking sites to express their views

Superstar Rajnikanth who shares a very close relation with Dutt is quoted saying, “I was very disturbed when I heard about my friend and a lovely person Sanjay Dutt’s verdict. The current support and appeal for his pardon is giving me hope. I pray to God that he gets it.”

Iconic star and Union Minister Chiranjeevi and his son Ram Charan, who is working with Dutt in Zanjeer, have also publicly stood by the actor during this crisis.

Jaya Prada went on to say the following for him: “He is an innocent person. It is very unfortunate. Knowingly or unknowingly, it has been written in his fate that he has to struggle like this. Particularly for Sanjay Dutt, if you see the background of his family and all. His father Sunil Dutt served a lot for the country. I bow to the court’s decision, but Sanjay Dutt is very close to my heart. We worked together in so many films.” Mohanlal also showed his support by saying, “He certainly deserves our compassion and help to put this chapter behind him once and for all. I sincerely hope and pray that he is shown the leniency he truly deserves and is also granted a pardon.”

There is a lot of brouhaha too regarding the Supreme Court sentence of 5 years jail time to Sanjay and clemency by the Governor. Journalist Mohan Siroya says, “I fail to understand why the whole of Bollywood and even some of the intellectuals are failing to differentiate between the ‘Celebrity empathy’ and the equality of ‘Rule of Law’. Many say, no doubt he made a ‘mistake’ in law but he deserves a ‘pardon’ now in view of his illustrious family background  and the good behavior he has displayed after the first jail term of 16 months, after which he was on bail. This is a ‘ghisa pita’ argument which has been going on since he was arrested. The law itself took notice of this, first dropped the charges under the dreadful TADA, but maintained the charge of illegal possession and hiding of that fact, and getting the evidence destroyed, under the Arms Act. Under law the jail term for this crime is 10 years. The Bombay High Court itself was good enough to consider his family background and good behavior and reduced the sentence to only 6 years. The Supreme Court then reduced his term to 5 years (minus the 18 months he has already spent in jail). Now just because he is a ‘celebrity’, the State Governor sought to give him clemency of this 3.5 year jail term under his ‘constitutional powers’.

Sanjay Dutt has been acquitted in all TADA cases and blast cases, and that the only charge against Dutt has been illegal possession of arms.

Mohan adds, “Should not a common man who is getting the lawful punishment of 10 years jail, not be treated that way? If this ‘celebrity’ status becomes a factor to dilute the law of the land, then think of no ‘jail’ at all for the likes of the Khans (Salman or Saif). Salman is facing charge cases of ‘homicides’ by his careless driving in a drunken state and of killing a ‘Chinkara’- defiling the rule of the land. Stars have money, power and celebrity status but do these things give them the right to usurp the law of the land and get away with lighter sentences or clemency? Does the law, anywhere, provide for the mutation of the entire punishment under law to a person simply because his parents had served the nation nobly?

I give credit to my media colleague Mayank Shekhar who while on panel on NDTV advised for the keeping of the ‘celebrity factor’ aside while considering any law breaking case and creating categorization of ‘common man or celebrity’.  We cannot forget the fact that Sanjay Dutt did hob-knob with terrorists like Abu Salem or his own accomplice Yusuf Nalwala who burnt his AK - 47 and just for that he has been awarded the life sentence, as against only 5 years for Sanjay.”

In an official statement, Sanjay Dutt has said, “I have already suffered for 20 years and been in jail for 18 months. If they want me to suffer more I have to be strong. I am heart - broken because today along with me, my 3 children and my wife and my family will undergo the punishment. I have always respected the judicial system and will continue to do so, even with tears in my eyes. I am going to complete all my films and won’t let anyone down. I am overwhelmed by the support of my fans the industry people and the media who have always stood by me and supported me. I know in my heart that I have always been a good human being, respected the system and always been loyal to my country. My family is very emotional right now and I have to be strong for them. I am shattered and in emotional distress. God is great and he will guide me through this.”

The latest update from Sanjay is that at a hurriedly addressed press conference, he stated that he now does not want to ask for clemency and will let the law take its own course. Unfortunately Poor Sanjay’s move is being misconstrued by cynics as an attempt to gain sympathy nationwide.

With the Supreme Court awarding a five year sentence to Sanjay in the 1993 serial blasts case and giving him four weeks’ time to surrender, the actor is in a race against time to try and complete all his films. In 1994, when Dutt was sent to jail, Anil Kapoor replaced him in Trimurti, Akshay Kumar’s role in Amaanat was increased and films like Mahanta, Vijeta and Shatranj were delayed. Sanjay has about `250 crore riding on him with four films under production: Raju Hirani’s P.K, T P Aggarwal’s Policegiri, Apoorva Lakhia’s Zanjeer and Karan Johar’s Unglee. Sanjay has told his producers to finish as much shooting as possible before he surrenders. When he got bail for the first time in 1995, since he had to attend court regularly during the day, he shot his films in the night for nearly a year-and-a-half before he got an exemption from the court. What will happen to the 250 crores which is at stake and lying locked in his incomplete films? It now remains to be seen and your guess is as good as mine!