Dutt, who did not act much in films after his political career took off, played son Sanjay's screen dad in Rajkumar Hirani's monster hit, Munnabhai MBBS.

Rival Sanjay Nirupam has made much of Dutt's absence from Parliament -- the veteran suffered a nervous disorder which affected his ability to walk and also escaped miraculously from an air crash -- telling Mumbai North West voters that they saw more of Dutt in Munnabhai than they did either in Parliament or in their constituency in the last five years.

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