Dutt’s the way: From fanboy to co-star

While the Khans were yet to make a debut and the Hindi film industry in India was undergoing a transformation, giving way to a new crop of actors — from Rishi Kapoor to Sanjay Dutt and Anil Kapoor — a young lad in Afghanistan was dreaming of growing up to be an actor and do a Dutt or Big B on the silver screen in Bollywood. It was sometime in the early 1980s that Babrak Akbari, whom we introduced to our readers a few days ago, was enjoying a liberal dose of Hindi cinema, the only kind that was popular in the country. Akbari, who gets his big break in Bollywood alongside Dutt, had been a fan of the actor since childhood. While he lived most of his adult life in Sweden, his childhood back home saw SRK and Dutt as common household names, Hindi films being very, very popular there. 

The 43-year-old actor will be seen in Girish Malik’s Torbaaz, followed by Ashutosh Gowarikar’s Panipat, both co-starring Dutt. While Malik got Akbari on board for his pashto (pathan) looks, an introduction via Dutt helped him become a part of Gowarikar’s Panipat. He shared the first look of Torbaaz with WB. 

“I am happy to be working with Sanjay Dutt, my favourite actor, in two big films. I have meaty roles in both. While we were shooting for Torbaaz, Sanjay Dutt signed up for Panipat. He told Ashutosh about me, and he was immediately interested,” says Akbari. He plays a terrorist in Torbaaz and a historical character in Panipat. 

“People in Afghanistan don’t watch any other movies. Actors from the previous generation — staring from Amitabh Bachchan, right up to Shah Rukh Khan are very popular there. In all honesty, my favourite actor, since I was very young, has always been Sanjay Dutt. So when I was first offered a chance to work with him, I was stunned for a couple of minutes and wondered if it was a dream,” Akbari shares with WB. “But it’s fun to work with baba; he’s a real gem — always helping you professionally and personally,” he adds. 

On Sanjay Dutt recommending him for the role in Panipat, Babrak lets a breezy smile escape his otherwise serious demeanour, “I may look evil and ever-so-angry, but Sanjay Dutt has seen the real me, and likes me as a person.” Even after signing up for the film, he hadn’t met Dutt until they landed on the sets of Torbaaz together in Kyrgyzstan. “That was the first time I saw him in person. I had signed the contract in Mumbai and headed back to Sweden. I reached Kyrgyzstan from there, while Sanjay Dutt flew from Mumbai,” he shares, adding, “After these two, we are planning to work on other projects together. We are good friends now.”

From left: Akbari’s look in Torbaaz, with Ashutosh Gowarikar, and on the sets of Panipat