Late legendary actor Sunil Dutt left no stones unturned in ensuring that his wife Nargis Dutt gets every possible treatment to recover from cancer in 1980. He was by her side during her extensive treatment in the US. However, Nargis breathed her last the very next year in May 1981 in Mumbai.
Sunil got emotional remembering his late wife while talking to host Tabassum on her memorable chat show Phool Kile Hain Gulshan Gulshan. “One thinks one wouldn’t be able to survive after a close one dies. But I don’t know how one still lives on. I don’t know how I’m also still living,” said the actor.
Earlier on the chat show, Sunul Dutt attributed his success as an actor to Nargis. “They say behind every man’s success, there’s a woman. I believe a woman also has a hand in a man’s downfall. For instance, Cleopatra or Helen of Troy. But I’ve been a little fortunate in this matter. I’ve had a lot of women contributing to my life,” said Sunil.
Sunil Dutt and Nargis Dutt met on the sets of Mother India. (Photo: Express Archive)
He mentioned not only his mother, but also his wife Nargis. “She was a great actor and a very good human. She brought a lot of good things to my life. Women appear in various forms in one’s life — as a sister, girlfriend, daughter — to offer support. I’m one of the few lucky ones who had them in my life,” added Sunil.
Sunil Dutt revealed on the talk show that after Nargis’ death, he’s kept himself busy with spending time at a school for spastic kids his late wife used to operate. He’s also opened a society named Children of the sick at a cancer hospital, where he spends time with cancer survivors every Sunday. “The work my wife left behind, if I can finish that in my lifetime, I’d feel like I’ve achieved something,” said Sunil.
Namrata Dutt told author Kishwar Desai in his book Darlingji: The True Love Story of Nargis & Sunil Dutt that her father was a broken man after her mother passed away. “For years, my dad shut down. He could not sleep in the same room. He was in depression, he couldn’t work. He had done everything and he thought he could make her survive. He was truly finished. He didn’t talk to anybody, he used to go to office, go for walks. But he was very quiet,” she recalled.
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Sunil Dutt and Nargis fell in love after the former saved the latter from a fire accident on the sets of their 1957 cult epic Mother India. They tied the knot the next year. They had three children in Sanjay Dutt, Priya Dutt, and Namrata Dutt. Sunil, also a politician, died in 2005.
