Sanjay Dutt has had a life full of ups and downs but the one person who has stood by him through it all is his wife Maanyata Dutt. She was especially supportive of him when he was sent back to jail to complete his sentence, and took care of their kids – Shahraar and Iqra – who were both two at the time of Dutt’s sentencing. Today, he’s in a much better place and definitely looks the happiest around his kids.
Maanyata, in a recent interview with HT Brunch, spoke about how she wants the kids to be aware of Sanjay’s life. Perhaps not right now given they’re so young, but they don’t plan on hiding anything from them.
They are still too young to understand what happened. Shahraan’s dad is his hero, his role model, he idolises him. I worry about two things. First, it could be too much of a shock for him; he might not be able to justify what had happened or understand why it happened. Second, he might start thinking whatever his dad did back then was cool. We don’t want either to happen. They should know that their father was wrong and he has paid a heavy price for that. Not many people would have the courage to own up to what they had done and face the consequences. I want them to understand how it happened, why it happened, and how Sanju took it in his stride. But they are still too young for all that and we don’t want to burden their childhood.
More power to you, Maanyata.