Sanjay Dutt birthday: Mahesh Bhatt writes emotional letter, says 'you are entering second babyhood’

There’s one major common factor between Mahesh Bhatt’s last film as a director, ‘Kartoos’, 20 years ago and his latest film, ‘Sadak 2,’ actor Sanjay Dutt. The duo shares an extremely close bond, courtesy work on half a dozen ventures together, and this was evident with the special note that the director wrote for his frequent collaborator on his 60th birthday. Bhatt conveyed delight over Dutt entering his ‘second babyhood’, as his ‘real work’ is beginning at the age of 60. The ‘Arth’ maker wrote how ‘Sanju’ continued to dazzle not just him but also his co-stars Alia Bhatt and Aditya Roy Kapur, and how the actor was keen to write his ‘obituary' and reinvent himself time and again. 

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Mahesh Bhatt's heartfelt letter to Sanjay Dutt

In a heartfelt letter published in Mumbai Mirror, Bhatt quoted the words of the letter Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman wrote to legendary Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa for his birthday, “A human is born a baby, becomes a boy, goes through youth, the prime of life and finally returns to being a baby before he closes his life. This is, in my opinion, the most ideal way of life. I believe you would agree that a human becomes capable of producing pure works, without any restrictions, in the days of his second babyhood."  

Bhatt then connected how that message is what he was reminded of after coming back to the director’s chair after 20 years. The director wrote, “I feel exactly the same about you. You are a man, entering the phase of your second babymoon.” 

Bhatt praised the ‘Munnabhai MBBS’ star’s efforts before enacting an important scene. The veteran filmmaker said the manner he ‘dived deeper into the innermost chambers’ of his heart and brought out a ‘fire’, ‘dazzled’ not just him but also the ‘younger generation’ like Alia and Aditya. 

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Bhatt then penned how his real-experiences, including the jail sentence and sufferings, are still visible on his face, and that all of it made him wake up to ‘deep love, compassion and understanding.’  

Bhatt wrote, "Today, the footprints of time, and real life experience, are visible on your gorgeous face like never before. Your life proves that it is by suffering, and suffering alone, that one ceases to be just a mere acting machine. The periods of solitude that you’ve experienced in prison, face to face with suffering, have woken you up to deep love, compassion and understanding.” 

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The director concluded by praising his actor’s eagerness to rewrite the rules of the industry where there are ‘no second acts’ by writing his obituary and reinventing himself.     

“In this industry, where there are no second acts, you have proved time and again to the world that has always been too keen to write your obituary, that you have the ability to re-invent yourself. How lovely it is to reconnect with you in the Autumn years’ of our lives, Sanju. But as the wise say: Autumn is just another spring,” concluded Bhatt. 

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Sadak 2

'Sadak 2' is the second installment of the 1991 hit action drama starring Sanjay Dutt and Pooja Bhatt. The duo are coming together, with Alia Bhatt and Aditya Roy Kapur. The movie is slated to release next year.