Sanjay Dutt Recalls Prison Years, Says Stardom Did Not Affect His Life Behind Bars

Speaking to Shekhar Suman on the talk show Shekhar Tonite, Dutt said he had never been particularly attached to the privileges associated with his stardom and was therefore not deeply affected when those comforts were taken away in prison.

“I don't care about these things,” Dutt said, recalling how he had often sat on the ground and shared meals with workers on film sets.

Dutt was arrested in 1993 in connection with the Mumbai serial blasts case and was later convicted under the Arms Act for illegal possession of weapons. In 2013, the Supreme Court upheld his conviction and sentenced him to five years in prison. He was released from Pune's Yerwada Jail in February 2016 after receiving remission for good conduct.

Recalling his time behind bars, Dutt said prison authorities appeared to expect the loss of familiar comforts to affect him psychologically. He described an exchange in which an official told him that he would not be able to get cigarettes in prison. Dutt said he responded that locally available bidis would be sufficient.

Dutt said the changes in his circumstances did not affect him as much as authorities had expected. He also recalled sharing prison space with other inmates and said his upbringing and status as a film star did not prevent him from interacting with them.

His comments offer a personal account of a period that became one of the most difficult chapters of his career. After his release, Dutt returned to acting and continued appearing in major Hindi film productions.

On the work front, Dutt was most recently seen in Welcome to the Jungle, alongside Akshay Kumar, Arshad Warsi, Suniel Shetty, Jacqueline Fernandez, Raveena Tandon and Disha Patani.

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