Nargis was one of the most successful stars in the Hindi cinema. The National Award-
winning actress, who featured in 51 movies, took voluntary retirement from acting post marriage. After getting married to Sunil Dutt, Nargis gave birth to three children and devoted her life to their upbringing.
As family records suggest, the eldest of the three kids, Sanjay Dutt, was the most
pampered one. The Bollywood legend even tried to ignore the signs of her son getting addicted to drugs.
As recounted in the Munna Bhai actor’s biography ‘Sanjay Dutt: The Crazy Untold Story of Bollywood’s Bad Boy’ by Yasser Usman, Nargis “did everything to hide from Sunil the changes in Sanjay that she herself didn’t fully understand.”
Her trust for Sanjay was so unfaltering that whenever someone would want to talk of Sanjay’s tryst with drugs, she would instantly say, “My son never drinks and never touches drugs.”
According to Sanjay’s sister Priya Dutt, Nargis was in such deep denial that she had heard her mother say to a friend, “Why is Sanjay’s room always locked when his friends are there? What is the big deal? I hope he’s not gay.”
Although Sanjay would go on to fight his addiction, solidify his position in the Hindi film industry and lead a happy life with his own family, Nargis could not witness any of it.
The Padmashree awardee lost her fight to pancreatic cancer when Sanjay was 22. She died days before the release of Sanjay’s debut film Rocky.