SANJU: An honest biopic or a well-planned PR exercise?

Sanju has smashed all records left, right and center and raked in over 120 crores within its weekend. But every coin has two sides so a motion picture cannot be an exception. On one side, people are bowled over by Ranbir Kapoor and Vicky Kaushal’s effortless portrayals of their respective characters that could melt even the strongest of hearts; the emotional core of the film which rests on the father-son relationship has left a lot of eyes moist. Now, let’s talk about the other side of the coin.

Attempting a biopic in Bollywood is a tricky territory, with expected and confirmed criticisms of distorting facts and manipulating the truth. Sanju is no exception, just like Azhar, people are calling this Sanjay Dutt biopic an attempt to whitewash Dutt’s controversial image and present him as a do-gooder and someone who was trapped into the wrong companies. Despite some spectacularly soaring performances, Sanju never gives us any insights into Dutt’s misdemeanours, apart from his drug-addictions that wrecked his romantic liaison with his girlfriend, played by Sonam Kapoor Ahuja here. Every time the actor makes a mistake, the blame is comfortably shifted to someone else. He becomes a drug addict, the blame goes to the peddler, he’s accused of being a terrorist, and the blame goes to the media for blowing things out of proportions. So did Sanjay Dutt never make a mistake? Was he never the bad-boy he was made out to be? It seems too hard to digest.

And here are a few reactions on Twitter that have also expressed their disappointments over the portrayal of Sanjay Dutt’s roller-coaster jounrey:-

@RajkumarHirani if that wasn’t a hagiography then I don’t know what is. It was dishonest to claim otherwise for six months in all interviews! Though great direction and great acting by Ranbir! #sanju

— Anirudh Iyer (@AnirudhKIyer) June 30, 2018

Once an ad man always an ad man.. Raj Kumar Hirani returns to his first love and makes his longest ad film #Sanju to whitewash/cleanse Sanjay Dutt’s image.
One Film.. Many LIES !!

— Amod Mehra (@MehraAmod) June 30, 2018

When you whitewash and normalise a womanising, arrogant, criminal; you are as guilty yourself.
Don’t matter if u r Hirani, Chopra or Ranbir. #sanju pic.twitter.com/eJXEWuRHtK

— Anuraag Saxena (@anuraag_saxena) June 30, 2018

#sanju
After whitewashing Sanju, its time to whitewash the great Shakti Kapoor ji

Main contenders to play Shakti will be:
1. Ranveer Singh (the chichora)
2. Emraan Hashmi (the Chu…)
3. Ajay Devgnd (the gutka)
4. Vivek Oberoi (the nothing)
5. Kareena Kapoor (the she mail)

— Gaurav Fan (@BHAKTKRKka) June 30, 2018

Other countries : I will appeal in court and I will prove that I’m not a terrorist.

India : Best director ko lekar Meri biopic film banaunga aur sabit kar dunga ki I’m not a terrorist. #Sanju

— R E B E L (@Gadhvilaxman) June 29, 2018

The problem with Sanju isn’t that they’re making a movie about a terrorist or showing terrorism. The problem is that it’s a blatant attempt to whitewash a terrorist’s image.

It’s really not that hard to understand.

— rohan (@asvpxrohxn) June 29, 2018

But when have critics been successful of changing the fate of the film? Never! The Aam Junta has whole-heartedly embraced the film and made it a BLOCKBUSTER in three days itself. It seems Rajkumar Hirani has succeeded in making the audiences empathize with Sanjay Dutt’s hardships and sorrows with his meticulous understanding of human emotions, albeit manipulative and with some distorted facts.

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