PIX: Sanjay Dutt's Policegiri roles

Irony can play a cruel hand.

Sanjay Dutt may be doing time in prison right now but this Friday he returns to the big screen as the crime-busting DCP Rudra.

The actor plays a swaggering cop in K S Ravikamar-directed Policegiri, a remake of Tamil hit Saamy co-starring Prachi Desai and Prakash Raj.

Interestingly, he's donned the 'khaki vardi' for numerous films in his more than three-decades long career. Take a peek.

In one of the worst films of the year so far, Dutt plays a shoddy, hot-headed cop, who tosses and twirls burly baddies like pumpkins and melons.

Dutt teams up with his Daud director Ram Gopal Varma to make another forgettable feature. 

This time, he plays a shady cop, who tries to pull wool under the honest Rana Daggubati's eyes.

While the sequel was no fun, Dhamaal gets a few laughs owing to Dutt's trippy turn as a cop wanting to prove his worth to his seniors by chasing a bunch of treasure hunting slackers. 

Dutt is in terrific form as an insolent cop investigating the dubious activities within a royal household of Rajasthan.

Especially remarkable are his face-offs with the sterling Amitabh Bachchan.

Dutt and his company, including a sizzling and slim Shilpa Shetty, may look like they walked straight out of an Armani catalogue but they're good ol' cops doing what they do best in Bollywood. 

Taking down the bad guys. And in Anubhav Sinha's Dus that means terrorist outfits hiding as far as Canada.

With Mahesh Manjrekar's Kurukshetra, Dutt hoped to recreate the magic of Vaastav as a man on the right side of the law battling deep-rooted corruption and vicious politicians. 

But the story, crammed in cliches, failed to make any impression.

Vidhu Vinod Chopra's Diwali offering in 2000 didn't achieve the cult status of Parinda but the portrayal of growing unrest angst in Kashmir against the backdrop of a father-son story received suitable appreciation.

Dutt's gritty portrayal of a cop and father trying to reach out to his misguided adopted son (Hrithik Roshan) while the latter embraced radical views stands out.

In this forgettable potboiler, Dutt and Amrita Singh play police officers ensuring good wins over Amrish Puri.

Ilaaka also stars Mithun Chakravarthy and Madhuri Dixit in one of the most forgettable roles of their otherwise illustrious career.

Chucking the boring khaki for a cop who looks more Lethal Weapon than Zanjeer, Dutt unleashes his stylish persona in this little remembered David Dhawan drama also featuring his favourite Govinda.

The trio later went on to work in comedies like Haseena Maan Jayegi, Jodi No 1 and Ek Aur Ek Gyaarah.

Another eminently forgettable cop caper from Dutt has the actor getting into 'kanoon ka rakhwala' zone.

But life in the police force, especially the one manufactured by Bollywood is not exactly pleasant he soon discovers.

A gawky Dutt slipped into a cop's uniform for the first time in the obscure Mera Faisla.

The 1984 drama, co-starring Rati Agnihotri, is standard baloney about an innocent police officer becoming target of an evil conspiracy.