Deepali Singh (DNA; July 8, 2018)

Paresh Rawal’s performance as Sunil Dutt in Sanju has received rave reviews. Apart from the fact that the actor has always admired the senior Dutt, he had reminisced about a letter that the latter had sent him. On May 25, 2005, he got Dutt’s letter wishing him on his birthday, which falls on May 30. The former was surprised to receive it as it was the very day that the erstwhile MP had passed away. Paresh has now shared the note with us, which was typed on Dutt’s letterhead and bears his signature. He kept the letter with him all these years, but forgot about it. On January 3, 2017, when Paresh was going to meet Rajkumar Hirani for the narration of Sanju, he asked his wife, Swaroop Sampat, to check for some documents in his drawer. Sometime later, she called him up to tell him that she had found the late actor’s letter among the documents. For Paresh, it was a sign to take up the role. “It was found on the day that Raju narrated the role to me. It was like divine intervention,” he said in an interview.