At a time when media bashing is becoming the preferred way to deflect attention to oneself and project a nice image and abuse journalists, or is presstitutes the correct word, it does not come as a surprise that Bollywood has made it the villain of the piece in a fawning biopic on Sanjay Dutt, wayward son of legendary actor and politician Sunil Dutt.

Titled Sanju, the film does not promise exactly to be an authentic account of the actor’s troubled life, most of it his own creation, but the way it was marketed and jazzed up, it looked like an attempt to repair and resurrect the image of Sanjay Dutt, called Sanju Baba by his countless fans and admirers. In that it seemed to have achieved its objective, even if the film did not do full justice to his life journey that was marred by foolish misadventures that turned dangerous for self and society.

In it’s attempt to shore up the image of one of its own, the Bollywood film puts the blame on media as if it was the fault of the media that Sanju’s life was in such a mess. The film devoted a song and dance sequence, in which the subject matter of the film, Sanjay Dutt, himself appeared in a guest role along with the hero Ranbir Kapoor (playing Sanju in the film) to rubbish the media and blast its image to smithereens. Now this song could be music to the ears of a section of the society that has assigned itself the role of a media Ombudsman and threatens the media now and then.

This film by Rajkumar Hirani touted as a biopic of Sanjay Dutt, unfortunately is just another fictional Bollywood malasa film, with the right mix of all human emotions and drama and buffoonery associated with such ventures.

There are important aspects of the Dutt junior’s life are missing completely in the film. What about his wife who died, questions a veteran film watcher and follower of Bollywood. And how can a film glorify his “conquests” when it came to women? It is surprising that none of the so-called women rights groups have found anything amiss in the shocking ‘revelation of an implied sexual prowess’ of Sanjy Dutt glorified in the film. His (Sanju’s) admission of scoring 350, a count of women he bedded – has no activist raising even a murmur of protest.

It is one thing to talk about or boast about it to a friend, but it is entirely a different thing to put it on a public platform. Incidentally the film would be seen on digital media as well and is it really in the interests of the society to allow such content on a public platform accessible by one and all?

Another highly controversial aspect of the troubled times of Sanjay Dutt, discussed in depth and widely in the media (again the media can be bashed for this) is the leeway he got from the jail authorities. As against the fate of common convicts, the VIP convict in real life was given many paroles and furloughs – leave of absence from jail, a facility that was not extended to some or many deserving cases, which the media had reported then. But then, there is media bashing as an alternative that the real and reel Sanjay Dutt (Ranbir Kapoor, who played Sanjay in the film) portray in a song and dance number that has media firmly in its sights.

One is not condoning the media at all, as it has its own black sheep, but the manner in which the film fraternity rubbished the media to promote the image of one of its own should be cause for worry for the media industry as a whole. For one, film media is more powerful when it comes to making an impact, and this media bashing could motivate and enthuse others to follow suit and may even encourage them to thrash media men and women physically for reporting reality.

Also surprising is the silence of the media over this criticism. Maybe they are happy with the fact that the film makers had eventually come to them only for publicity of the film for its success. Or the advertisements from the film makers made them look the other way?

But one thing: the film makers seem to have succeeded in achieving their objective of portraying Sanjay Dutt as a wronged person to some extent and generate enough sympathy for him in real life. Why the film maker who claim this to be a biopic, was silent about his children, a daughter who was studying abroad and his own visit to meet her? Perhaps all of it could not be squeezed into a three-hour film.

The film of course has been made well, each character fitted the role to the T. If it was a completely fictional film, then for sure it is film that appears poised to win commercial success and critical acclaim. But since the makers claim it is a biopic, they seem to have allowed fiction to occupy their minds more than it should have.