All's well that ends well. Even a family feud. Trishala Dutt, 19, and her father, Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt finally made peace with each other in the Bahamas.
Sanjay, stationed on location for his film Blue, was accompanied by his wife of four months, Manyata. The first Indian edition of People magazine reports this acrimonious celeb fight has now come to an end.
Manyata was said to be the reason for the estrangement between daughter and father. Just before Sanjay's sudden marriage to Manyata, Trishala gave a series of well-publicised interviews stating her father had given her to understand that she would be the only woman in his life.
Trishala is the daughter of the late Richa Sharma, Sanjay's first wife. Richa died of cancer on December 10, 1996 and Trishala has always lived with her aunt (mother's sister, Enna) and her grandparents in Bayside, Queens, New York.
In the Bahamas, Trishala spent some time alone with her dad during which he asked about her college work and showed great interest in the projects she was working on.
Trishala, on her part, went all out to shower her dad with affection.The teenager, who is a second year student at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, has also expressed a desire to work in the film industry.
She has had some portfolio pictures taken and her aunt Enna has promised to help launch her film career. Trishala has yet to speak to her father about her movie plans.
Trishala denies ignoring her father's phone calls after he got married to Manyata.
"No, I was not ignoring his calls. I was busy. There were times when I was in class when dad called and then it would be too late for me to call him back in India. Dad got the wrong idea of why I wasn't taking his calls so he finally texted me and I called him back," she says.
"I spoke to my father a few weeks after his marriage. When we spoke, it was like any other conversation — completely normal. There was no tension between us."
Proud
"He is proud of me for choosing [to study] criminal psychology. I was updating him on the homicide and missing person cases that I have studied, and my meetings with some criminals."
On her relationship with Manyata, she commented: "So far so good".
People's correspondent Sandipan Dalal said: "The days preceding their meeting, Trishala was both nervous and happy. Nervous, because she hadn't met her dad for over one-and-a-half years. Joyous, because she was looking forward to spending some quality time with him.
"It is clear that it was a very emotional six days for both father and daughter. They connected with each other and the goings-on in each other's lives once again. As for Trishala and Manyata, it would be interesting to see how their relationship develops.
"While Trishala's only wish is to see her father happy, six days is too soon for anyone to say with conviction whether she and Manyata will go on to forge a meaningful relationship."
