Sunil Dutt faced backlash for fulfilling Nargis Dutt’s wish to be buried: ‘Many said…’

Nargis was known as one of the finest and greatest actresses in the history of Indian cinema. Her range of genres was from screwball comedy to drama. Nargis’ role in the Oscar-nominated epic drama Mother India won her several awards. Mother India is generally regarded as Nargis’s best performance.

The actress married her Mother India co-star Sunil Dutt in 1958, and together they had three children, including Sanjay Dutt and Priya Dutt. Nargis died in 1981 of pancreatic cancer, three days before Sanjay Dutt made his debut with Rocky.

Recently, her daughter and Sanjay’s sister Priya Dutt opened up in an interview about their father Sunil Dutt faced backlash after their mother’s death. Sunil fulfilled Nargis’ last wish before her death, and that was to bury her. Priya said, “Her funeral was a very surreal kind of scene. My father, of course, had priests from all over who came and prayed for her. He said, ‘Many people told me that she was married to a Hindu, so she should have a Hindu funeral’. But he said, ‘No, it was her desire to be buried, and we will do everything according to her wishes.'”

She further added that Sanjay was heartbroken because Nargis died too soon and the whole family was all set to celebrate Sanjay Dutt’s Bollywood debut. “It was extremely hard on Sanjay that she wasn’t there to see his first film, and to see his career take off. Rocky’s premiere happened, and we kept a seat next to Papa, empty, for mom”, she said.

Priya Dutt also recalled the day her mom died. “When we brought her body home, there was all this press, and one person asked me how I was feeling. I must’ve said something, because Papa took us to a room and told us that if we want to cry and scream, we should do it with him, but outside, we must maintain our composure”, she concluded.

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