Excerpts from Yasser Usman’s biography of Sanjay Dutt have been slammed by the actor, who says he never authorised it. Sanjay claims that an authorised biography is on its way.
There’s also the ‘authorised’ biopic being directed by his friend Raj Kumar Hirani, but it’s already being perceived as glossing over many well-known facts of Dutt’s life, to make the picture more palatable. Meanwhile, there have been a couple of ‘authorised’ biographies and autobiographies, namely ones of Rishi Kapoor and Karan Johar, which have worked well, given the constraints. But that’s all. It would seem like Bollywood actors are unwilling to tell the truth about their lives.
Amitabh once said, “It would hurt too many people. And unless one is willing to tell the entire truth, there’s no point to the biography.”
Another senior actor, known for his youthful zest, has put his biography on hold. “How can I write about the women I’ve been with? My wife will walk out. Those women have a life of their own. How can I barge in with my confessions to disrupt their lives?”
A recent example of biographies gone wrong includes Nawazudin Siddiqui’s memoir, which had to be withdrawn from bookshops, when the ladies he was involved with objected.
We now hear that several biographies that were being planned have been aborted for the fear of backlash, including some on Madhuri Dixit-Nene, Dharmendra, Kishore Kumar and Mohammed Rafi.
