Sanjay Dutt plays marriage counsellor for buddy

Sanjay Dutt, who is seeing marriage on the cards for himself, has worked out a rapprochement between his buddy Sanjay Gupta and Gupta's estranged wife Anu. The reconciliation had long been eluding the lovelorn Gupta only because of his wife's reluctance to accept his changed stance on marriage and commitment... until Dutt stepped in.

On the day "Shootout at Lokhandwala" producer Gupta's autobiographical flick "Alibaug" was launched, Dutt had a chat with Anu for about an hour. That, apparently, has done the trick.

Gupta's wife is finally thawing.

Gupta, immersed in directing a huge cast of friends posing as actors on the set of "Alibaug", admits it's Dutt who has done the seemingly impossible.

"Sanju is the happiest about me getting back with my wife and he's largely instrumental in bringing her around."

Dutt thoroughly disapproved of Gupta's relationship with Sameera Reddy and threatened to break their 15-year friendship if Gupta carried on with an affair that was hurting his marriage.

Says Gupta: "It's true Sanju didn't approve of my relationship with Sameera. In fact, he told me candidly for the first time that he won't be in my film if she was in it.

"He has always been very fond of my wife and thinks she's the best thing to happen to me. I agree. Sanju did speak to her at length. And you know no one can resist his charm."

As far as Dutt's own marriage is concerned, if close buddies are to be believed the actor has made up his mind to marry Manyata the minute he's out of the legal wrangle as he awaits his sentence in the 1993 Mumbai bombings case.

Indo-Asian News Service