Indian actor Sanjay Dutt says the pain of losing his father still fresh

MUMBAI, India (AP) - Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt said he continues to grieve for his father and veteran Bollywood actor Sunil Dutt seven months after his death.
The senior Dutt, who was a popular politician and a federal government minister, died of a heart attack in May.

"I have missed my dad every day, every moment," Sanjay Dutt said in an interview published in the January issue of Filmfare magazine. "I know he is with me spiritually but I miss his physical presence."

Sanjay Dutt's sister Priya recently won election to Parliament from a suburban Mumbai constituency that had elected their father five times. Sanjay Dutt said campaigning for his sister brought back vivid memories of his father.

"I was overwhelmed by people's responses to my father," Dutt said about the love and warmth shown by people from his father's northern Bandra constituency in Mumbai. "It was there for me to see and feel and I nearly wept when I got back home after my campaigning."

Sunil Dutt was a versatile actor, appearing in blockbusters Mother India, Yaadein (Memories), Waqt (Time) and Milan (Union) in a career spanning five decades.

His son Sanjay is a popular actor in his own right, appearing in more than 100 Bollywood movies, including blockbuster hits Munnabhai MBBS and Parineeta - The Married Woman over the past two years.

© The Canadian Press, 2005