Exclusive: Nargis Dutt wanted to live to watch Sanjay's film Rocky, says Manisha

Not many know that the late Nargis Dutt was waiting to see her son on the big screen. Sanjay Dutt’s debut film, Rocky, was scheduled to release on May 8, 1981. Nargis passed away five days before the film release.

Manisha Koirala shared this heartbreaking tale in a recent chat. “My paternal grandfather, Bishweshvar Prasad Koirala was also suffering from cancer. During that time, he was being treated in the same cancer hospital in New York as Nargisji. Both became good friends, and she would often tell him that he must live a long life as his country needed him,” she reminisces.

Talking about Nargis’s one unfulfilled desire, Manisha adds how she often shared with her grandfather, “I wish to live. I want to live to watch Sanjay’s film Rocky.”

Her untimely demise was not only a massive shock to the family but also a great loss for Indian cinema.