Armed and dangerous

He doesn't need to brandish a gun, but Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt has an aura of "armed and dangerous" around him. Point that out to him and he retorts: "I come across like that."

Speaking to tabloid! from Mumbai prior to the release of his cop drama Department, Dutt adds, "Actually, I am a very friendly guy. I don't know why people assume that about me."

However, his TV stint in the vicariously gripping reality show Bigg Boss along with Salman Khan in which contestants were locked up in a house for months, helped him shatter that formidable image. Till then, fans of Dutt had to rely on feel-good films such as the hit Munnabhai series to connect with their matinee idol.

"Bigg Boss was a great experience. I was like an older brother to the contestants. I could guide them, get angry with them and laugh with them. But I didn't take it on to change any image or anything," said Dutt.

Perhaps the angry young man tag that has been stapled to his well-sculpted chest could be attributed to his chequered past.

Hailed as Bollywood's original bad boy, the son of a legendary actor couple — the late Sunil Dutt and Nargis — has battled drug addiction, bad company in the form of alleged connections with underworld gangsters and long stints in prison. In July 2007, this controversial actor, 52, was sentenced to six years in jail for buying weapons from bombers who attacked Mumbai and later released on bail.

But if the adage reformed rakes make for good men was applied to Dutt, he could end up with a clean chit. The last four years have been relatively scandal-free, with Dutt giving marriage a second shot by tying the knot with his best friend Manyata and becoming a model father to his twins.

"These days I take a lot of time off to be with my family and kids. That's how it goes. There's films and there's family."

Lovable gangster

While he has his priorities sorted, he says it's his love for cinema that keeps him going. Since his debut in 1981 with Rocky, Dutt has acted in over 100 Bollywood films, several of which were blockbusters including Saajan, Khal Nayak and the Munnabhai series. Clearly belonging to a minority, Dutt is one of the few actors who has conquered comedy and pure evil with relish. While he played the lovable gangster with a soft heart in the Munnabhai series, his villain act in the recent Agneepath with shaved head and no eyebrows was superbly menacing.

"Cinema is something I love doing. After a certain age, you have to move on and that's what has happened to me. I have moved on to different kinds of genres."

Unlike his contemporaries such as the slightly younger Shah Rukh Khan or an Aamir Khan, romancing twenty-somethings or acting like a young college graduate doesn't feature in his scheme of things.

He acts his age.

Need proof? In the testosterone-charged Department, directed by Ram Gopal Varma, Dutt plays Mahadev Bhosle, the leader of an encounter squad. He may look buffed as the gun-toting cop, but no effort has been made to hide the creases and those seriously heavy eye-bags.

Keeping him company is legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan and Dum Maaro Dum star Rana Daggubati. In a separate interview, Daggubati dubs Dutt a "super-cool guy".

"I have grown up watching his films but I didn't know him personally until Department happened. He's so much fun to be with," said Daggubati.

While he paints Dutt as a cool dude, his response to working with Bachchan (Mr Bachchan as he calls him) borders on obsequious. "From the time I have known cinema, I have grown up with his films. And suddenly to be in the same room and breathe the same air as him — to know that you need to stand out in a scene with him... It's a much bigger challenge. Here the full credit goes to Mr Bachchan, he made every actor feel very comfortable. He was never intimidating. That's the reason he's Mr Bachchan," said Daggubati.

He adds that the dynamics among the three men is an integral part of Department. "It's a cop drama with three protagonists. Mr Bachchan is a politician, Sanjay is a cop and I am another junior cop. There's a department formed to clean up the mess of gangsters in Mumbai and make it a safer place. But in the larger picture, it's also about the mentor-protege relationship between Sanjay and me. Mr Bachchan plays an important role in manoeuvring that relationship," said Daggubati.

Dutt goes a step further in hawking his gangster-cop tale. The chat is liberally splattered with hard-sell phrases including "great script", "commercial entertainer" and "great action". In Bollywood, these buzz words by lead actors often do the job of luring people into theatres.

"Plus, Department is home ground for Ramu," said Dutt alluding to his director's finesse for making gangster-driven action films. "This is his forte and Department is on the same lines of his earlier films like Company and Sarkar. In fact, this is even better than his Company or Sarkar."

Defending Varma

Varma may be bestowed with Bollywood's avant-garde filmmaker title, but he's also highly inconsistent. In his repertoire of films, Varma, or RGV as he's fondly called, has made some gripping films such as the ones mentioned above. But he has also subjected viewers to horrific films such as Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag (a modern take on the iconic Sholay) and Nishabd (Lolita in an Indian avatar).

"I know what you are talking about. But Department belongs to a genre that he knows like the back of his hand. Also, it's based on a true incident in Mumbai when a squad ATS [anti-terrorism squad] was formed to combat the mafia problem in our city. Viewers will relate to it because our characters are so interesting," said Dutt.

His colleague Daggubati is also quick to jump to his director's defence.

"The inconsistency happens to every filmmaker, there is no one filmmaker who just makes good films. And when you are a director for over 20 years, you tend to go wrong. But Ramu has influenced a generation of filmmakers. He has made some landmark films and changed the trends in this industry. Around 40 or 50 of his assistants are now established filmmakers," said Daggubati, dropping names such as Sriram Raghavan and Anurag Kashyap.

"Department belongs to Ramu and his genre that he has perfected," adds Daggubatti

Dutt is quick to pitch in.

"Like Hollywood, Bollywood can never get tired of mafia films. In every film, there will be a twist, interesting characters and exciting incidents. Department has all of that."

Don't miss it

Department releases in cinemas across the UAE today.