Underplayed Gems

Sanju (2018)

Sanju poster
Original title
संजू
Directed by
Rajkumar Hirani
Genre
biographical film
Country
India
Runtime
2h 35m
Rated
16
Rating
7.2 of 10 from 219 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
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How it feels

This film follows the life of Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, focusing on his drug addiction, his arrest for connection to the 1993 Bombay bombings, and his relationship with his father. It shows his struggles and his career as an actor.

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What happens

Sanju is a 2018 Indian Hindi-language biographical comedy drama film directed and edited by Rajkumar Hirani, written by Hirani and Abhijat Joshi and produced by Hirani and Vidhu Vinod Chopra under the banners Rajkumar Hirani Films and Vinod Chopra Films. The film chronicles the life of Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, notably focusing his drug addiction, arrest for his suspected association with the 1993 Bombay bombings, relationship with his father, and acting career. Ranbir Kapoor stars as the title character with an ensemble supporting cast including Vicky Kaushal, Paresh Rawal, Anushka Sharma, Dia Mirza, Manisha Koirala, Karishma Tanna, Jim Sarbh and Sonam Kapoor. In a conversation with Hirani, Dutt shared anecdotes from his life, which the former found intriguing and prompted him to make a film based on Dutt's life. It was titled Sanju after the nickname Dutt's mother Nargis used to call him. Principal photography began in January 2017 and wrapped up in January 2018. The film's soundtrack was composed by Rohan-Rohan and Vikram Montrose, with A. R. Rahman as a guest composer. Fox Star Studios acquired the distribution rights of the film. Sanju was released worldwide on 29 June 2018. It received mixed reviews from critics, who praised Hirani's direction, screenplay, music, cinematography and the performances (particularly those of Kapoor, Kaushal, Rawal, and Koirala), though some criticized its supposed image-cleansing of its protagonist. It registered the highest opening for any film released in India in 2018, and on its third day had the highest single-day collection ever for a Hindi film in India. With a worldwide gross of over ₹587 crore (US$85.83 million), Sanju emerged as the second highest-grossing Indian film of 2018, highest grossing Hindi film of 2018, and the highest-grossing film of Kapoor's career until the release of Animal in 2023. It earned seven nominations at the 64th Filmfare Awards including Best Film and Best Director, winning Best Actor for Kapoor and Best Supporting Actor for Kaushal. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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