Mumbai, May 18: In his poignant description of the moments inside Sanjay Dutt's house minutes before he left for the court to surrender, director Mahesh Bhatt revealed how, just before the hour of parting came, his wife, sisters, brothers-in-law and the kids formed a circle around him holding hands, with Owen Roncon reading out a prayer.
"Owen Roncon (Priya's husband) asked God to help Sanju and the family survive this fire of life intact, and to bring him home soon.
"They then hugged and kissed and led him out of the living room in the same manner they would someone going on a long journey to a unknown and faraway land.
"On the wall behind them hung Sunil Dutt's photograph,and he looked down on them smilingly, the elder who had braved so many tragedies", write Bhatt in a newspaper.
"The scene got rather poignant when Sanju entered the kitchen to bid his domestic help goodbye.
"Tears flowed in abundance as they helplessly watched their strong and powerful master leave the house, this time not for a film shoot but to be locked up and put behind bars.
"His personal attendant Shankar, kept running away from him and the final moment of goodbye. I had to physically bring him to Sanju so that he could give him a hug", writes Bhatt.
The director hits out at the paparazzi who followed Dutt on his way to the court.
"Swarms of media personnel chased Sanjay's convoy from his front door right up to the court.
"On the way, they callously overtook cars, endangered civilian lives and put themselves in harm's way just to get images of Sanju and his wife, so that the world could feast their eyes on this celebrity in his hour of pain. The age of the paparazzi has arrived.
"I now understand what killed Princess Diana. If something is not done to rein the media in, we will soon have a similar tragedy on our own hands. In spite of the heavy police bundobast it was impossible to get Sanjay from his car into the court", writes Bhatt.
"I told the cops that I wouldn't let him come out, but they were in a quandary. They were apparently unable to laathi charge the all-powerful media!
"It was then that Sanju, like a true hero, got out and begged the swarm of people to let him pass. The crowd was still unmoved, and so, throwing all caution to the winds we pushed and shoved our way through the mob, getting battered and bruised in the process.
"And then, finally, the court took over. The matter was officially out of our hands. Sanju Baba is now in the hands of the state. I hope they can keep him safe", writes Bhatt.
