Daily Times

Actor and filmmaker Mahesh Majrekar, who appeared in a cameo in the Sanjay Dutt biopic, ‘Sanju’, has said that he was left wanting more after watching the film. In an interview to Mirror, the ‘Selection Day’ actor said that while ‘Sanju’ succeeded as a commercial film, it ‘disappointed’ him as a biopic.

“I have seen Sanju, and it is a well-made commercial film. However it left a lot unexplored. I would have directed it with a different approach,” Majrekar said. He praised director Rajkumar Hirani’s success, saying that Hirani must have succeeded at what he set out to do, considering the film’s close to Rs 600 crore worldwide box office haul.

“Hirani was on a journey to make a commercial film, and the numbers suggest that he has succeeded in doing so. As a film, I enjoyed it, but as a biopic I was a little disappointed,” Majrekar said.

The Bollywood veteran plays himself in a cameo in the film, which starred Ranbir Kapoor as Sanjay Dutt. The film was criticised in certain quarters for whitewashing many controversial aspects of Dutt’s life, such as his struggles with drug addiction and his many brushes with the law. Majrekar has directed Dutt in several films, such as ‘Vaastav: The Reality’, ‘Nidaan’, ‘Kurukshetra’, ‘Pitaah’, ‘Hathyar’ and others.

The film was recently in the news once again when Hirani was accused of sexual harassment by a crew member, while they were working on the film. He has denied all accusations.

Published in Daily Times, January 22^nd 2019.