Free-for-all celebrations mark Sanjay Dutt's freedom

A few diehard fans of Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, who became a free man on Thursday, celebrated his freedom in style here.

Mumbai restaurateur Khalid Hakim, owner of Mughlai eatery Noor Mohammadi Hotel, started doling out free "Chicken Sanju Baba", a signature recipe created by Dutt in 2010, to all patrons and fans. The special limited offer opened at noon on Thursday and would continue till midnight, Hakim said adding that the place was already overcrowded with eager people waiting to gorge on "Chicken Sanju Baba"."It was in 2010 on one of his visits that he created a special gravy-based chicken dish for us and we named it after him as 'Chicken Sanju Baba' on the menu card. Dutt also gave me his written consent to prepare and sell it to our patrons," said Hakim, who is the third-generation owner of the 93-year-old restaurant (opened in 1923).

Bandra's famous eatery "Bhaijaanz Restaurant" was offering a flat 50 percent discount to mark Dutt's release and launched a new dish "Bhai-Baba Chal Mere Bhai" to be served free to all customers."It is a combination of minced mutton and chicken as Salman Khan loves mutton and Sanjay Dutt relishes chicken. This is our humble tribute to their great friendship," said the restaurant manager. Incidentally, "Bhaijaanz Restaurant" is the country's first themed eatery after Salman Khan, opened last year by five fans and friends -- Rahul Kanal, Zafar Yusuf, Tabrez Shaikh, Sohail Siddique and Khursheed Khan -- who also attended the same school where Salman studied.

"Everything in our restaurant is inspired by our beloved Salman, his life, his physique, his roles and characters he enacted on screen, his likes and his famed bikes, memorabilia, etc," said the manager of the eatery which opened last year. The restaurant balcony was designed like the one at Salman Khan's home in Bandra Bandstand where thousands of fans flock daily, the items on the menu were named and designed after his movies or his personal tastes and the eatery has proved popular with its clientele. Colaba's popular Gokul Bar and Restaurant owner Dinesh Pujary -- a Dutt fan -- offered 300 chilled beers on-the-house between 3-6 p.m. to celebrate the actor's release.

"We were overwhelmed to see queues of people outside waiting for their one free bottle of any beer of their choice... We completed the freebie offer within the first two hours," said the hotel's marketing advisor Albert Amanna. An auto-rickshaw driver and hardcore Dutt fan, Sandeep Bachche was celebrating his idol's release differently by offering free rides for the day to commuters in Bandra. 

"Many years ago, I was given medical help by the Dutt family and I am forever indebted to them. When he returned to complete his sentence in May 2013, I vowed that I would roam bare-feet till he comes out of prison. Now, I shall start wearing footwear again," Bachche told media persons. As a tribute to his diehard fan worship of Dutt, Bachche's friends and colleagues have nicknamed him 'Munnabhai SSC', a fact which he proudly tells everybody.

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Kareena Kapoor Khan: Sanjay Dutt looks absolutely amazing

Actor Sanjay Dutt, who came out of prison after serving his term in the Yerawada jail, looked 'absolutely amazing', actress Kareena Kapoor Khan has said.

"Of course, we are all very happy. I saw a picture someone showed me, and he is looking absolutely amazing. We're really looking forward to seeing Sanjuji back on the big screen because I'm a big fan of Sanjay Dutt," said Kareena as an ambassador at the launch of Magnum Brownie flavour of the Magnum ice-cream.While Kareena and Sanjay only acted in 'LOC Kargil', her sister Karisma has starred in a numerous movies with him.

Sanjay served his term for illegal possession of arms, for which he was charged under the Arms Act and given a five-year sentence. After numerous court proceedings, jail terms and bails going on since 1993, he finally surrendered to the police in May 2013. The actor was released Thursday morning for conducting a good behaviour in the prison. Post his release, Sanjay Dutt was greeted with a great response by his fans. The industry too conveyed its feelings and welcomed Sanjay.

About the chocolate ice-cream brand and its new flavour, Kareena said: "I'm a chocolate girl, there's something about chocolate that is extremely stylish. I love chocolate, and most girls like to be pampered with it, especially a chocolate brownie ice-cream." "Once in a while to indulge, there is nothing wrong, it uplifts your mood, it is good for the skin and especially for the heart," the actress said.

"During school days, I would eat an ice-cream before reaching home from school. My mom would never allow me to eat it. Without telling mom, I'd keep my pocket money to buy an ice-cream, gobble it in the building before coming up in the lift," she said. She also said that owing to her association with the brand, she gets free stock of the ice-cream in which her husband Saif Ali Khan indulges heavily, having two-three ice-creams at a time and 'putting on calories'.

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Bombay HC adjourns hearing on PIL against Sanjay Dutt’s release

The Bombay high court adjourned its hearing of a PIL challenging the early release on remission of Sanjay Dutt from Pune’s Yerawada prison, after observing that there was no urgency as the actor has already been released on Thursday.

A division bench of Justices V M Kanade and Revati Mohite Dere sought to know from petitioner Pradeep Bhalekar, a social activist, why he approached the court at the last minute.

Dutt, who served the five-year sentence awarded to him by Supreme Court in the 1993 bomb blasts case, was released this morning from the Yerawada prison near Pune after the Maharashtra Home department granted him remission considering his good behaviour.

Bhalekar, in his petition filed on Wednesday through advocate Nitin Satpute, challenged the government’s decision and sought for it to be quashed and set aside.

Advocate Satpute mentioned the petition before the bench on Thursday seeking urgent hearing, but the court refused and said nothing urgent remained in the petition as Dutt has been already released.

Satpute told the court that his client had gone to Mantralaya earlier this week with a representation.

“He (Bhalekar) wanted to personally come yesterday to high court to mention his petition, but the police detained him when he left his house,” the advocate claimed.

The high court then posted the petition for hearing on February 29.

The 56-year-old actor walked out of Yerawada prison on Thursday. His release came 103 days ahead of the end of his full prison term.

According to Maharashtra Home Department, he was given remission on account of good conduct.

Dutt had surrendered in May 2013 after the apex court upheld his conviction by a special court here for possession of arms and ammunitions which was part of the consignment used in the 1993 serial bomb blasts.

During the investigation and the marathon trial, he spent 18 months in jail. On July 31, 2007, the TADA court in Mumbai sentenced him to six years’ rigorous imprisonment under the Arms Act and imposed a fine of Rs 25,000.

In 2013, the Supreme Court upheld the ruling but reduced the sentence to five years, following which he surrendered to serve the remainder of his sentence.

During his imprisonment, Dutt was granted parole of 90 days in December 2013 and again for 30 days later.

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Sanjay Dutt to take chartered flight home after leaving from Yerwada

Actor Sanjay Dutt, scheduled to be released from Pune’s Yerawada Jail on February 25 is likely to use a chartered plane to travel to Mumbai, sources said. Dutt is serving his term in the Pune jail in connection with the 1993 bomb blasts case.

The decision to use the air route is owing to security reasons and anticipating a huge media turnout outside the jail to cover the release of the actor.

“While it takes only a little over three hours to travel from Pune to Mumbai by the Expressway, Dutt has been advised to use a chartered plane instead to avoid any law and order problem arising from the media frenzy surrounding his release,” a senior official from the prisons department told The Indian Express. (Read: ‘Chicken Sanju Baba’ free for fans to celebrate Sanjay Dutt’s release)

“Also since last week one lane of the Expressway has been shut down for vehicular traffic, we expect over 100 cars from various media houses trailing him right from the moment he emerges from the jail. This might create a traffic snarl and we advised Dutt to take a private aircraft,” added the official. (Also read: Sanjay Dutt to walk out of prison on February 25)

According to the prison manual, a convict has the option of availing a warrant issued by the prisons authority as a train ticket, allowing him to undertake one-way train travel to his official place of residence. However, convicts have the liberty to book whichever mode of transport is convenient to them.

Dutt is expected to be out of the jail by afternoon after completing the mandatory paper work. Security would be tightened outside the jail premises by the Pune police. The Mumbai Police also plans to deploy policemen outside his Pali Hill residence.The lane leading to the actor’s building would be barricaded.

In May 2013, the Supreme Court had upheld the Tada court’s sentence and awarded Dutt five years of imprisonment under the Arms Act for his role in the 1993 Bombay bomb case.

The actor is currently serving the remaining 42 months of his sentence. He had already served 18 months of his sentence as an undertrial at Mumbai’s Arthur Road Jail.

While on furlough, in the last week of December, Dutt had moved an application seeking an extension of 14 days of furlough on health grounds.

On January 8, 2014 when Dutt went to surrender before prisons authorities, there was a news flash quoting the minister concerned that Dutt doesn’t require to surrender since his application seeking extension of furlough is pending, which prompted the actor to ‘return’. The jail authorities, however, claimed otherwise and claimed that Dutt never reported at Yerawada jail on January 8.

In all,144 days of remissions had been granted to the actor. While calculating the date of release, prisons authorities added four days of extra jail term slapped on him for failing to abide by the provisions of furlough specified in the prison manual.

Sources claim that not even a single day of additional remission that an officer of the rank of Superintendent of Police and above are entitled to grant have been given to the actor.

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'Chicken Sanju Baba' Will be Free to Celebrate Sanjay Dutt's Release

MUGHLAI EATERY NOOR MOHAMMADI HOTEL IN SOUTH MUMBAI WILL OFFER THE SIGNATURE RECIPE, CREATED BY MR DUTT HIMSELF AND GIFTED TO RESTAURANT OWNER KHALID HAKIM. "ON ONE OF HIS VISITS THAT HE CREATED A SPECIAL GRAVY-BASED CHICKEN DISH FOR US AND WE NAMED IT AFTER HIM AS 'CHICKEN SANJU BABA' ON THE MENU CARD," SAID THE OWNER

A Mumbai restaurateur will offer a special culinary delight named Chicken Sanju Baba - free of charge to all patrons and fans to celebrate Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt's release from prison on Thursday.

Mughlai eatery Noor Mohammadi Hotel in south Mumbai will offer the signature recipe, created by Mr Dutt himself and gifted to restaurant owner Khalid Hakim.

"I had invited Sanjay Dutt Sa'ab to inaugurate the new family section of my restaurant in 1986. Since then, he visited regularly to relish the special non-vegetarian and other food items we served here, especially his favourite Nalli Nari," Mr Hakim told IANS.

Mr Dutt also loved other delicacies like White Chicken Biryani, Chicken Hakimi, Dal Ghee, Zafrani Tangdi Kabab, Shami Kabab and Tiranga Kabab on the menu, which Dilip Kumar, late artist M F Husain and Sunil Dutt also loved.

"It was only much later in 2010, on one of his visits that he created a special gravy-based chicken dish for us and we named it after him as 'Chicken Sanju Baba' on the menu card. He also gave me his written consent to prepare and sell it to our patrons," said Mr Hakim, who is the third generation owner of the restaurant opened in 1923.

Over the years, 'Chicken Sanju Baba' ranks among the top customer choice on the menu along with other traditional favourites.

Mr Dutt even credited the hotel for the dish named after him in a television interview, Mr Hakim said with a tinge of pride in his voice.

"He is a big star, he could have easily sold the recipe to some five-star hotel and earn royalty for his whole life. But he gave it to our humble place. The least we can do is celebrate his release differently along with his fans and patrons on Thursday," Mr Hakim said. (Also Read: Sanjay Dutt to Be Released From Yerwada Jail On February 25)

As per plans, the restaurant will serve 'Chicken Sanju Baba' to all patron and fans free from noon till midnight on February 25 as Mr Dutt walks out of jail after nearly three years in Yerwada Central Jail in Pune.

Incidentally, iconic painter late M F Husain, who was a regular patron at the restaurant, had created a special painting at his favourite eatery said Mr Hakim.

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