He played variety of roles in his career like romantic hero, anti-hero, sophisticated man, buffoon lover, dacoit and strict father.

[16] The family resettled in the small village of Mandauli on the bank of the river Yamuna, located in the Yamunanagar District of East Punjab (now in Haryana).

[3][18] Director Ramesh Saigal was instrumental in giving Dutt a break in the film Railway Platform (1955) when the latter was hosting the show, Lipton Ki Mehfil on Radio Ceylon.

[25][26] It was dubbed in several European languages including Spanish, French and Russian; it did substantial business in Greece, Spain and Russia and was released in the Eastern Bloc countries.

[27] Mother India was also acclaimed across the Arab world, in the Middle East, parts of Southeast Asia, and North Africa and continued to be shown in countries such as Algeria at least ten years after its release.

[48] In 1966, he had a blockbuster in Raj Khosla's thriller film Mera Saaya and a flop in Lekh Tandon's historical drama Amrapali.

[51] Its songs, such as "Jhumka Gira Re" sung by Asha Bhosle and "Mera Saaya Saath", a solo by Lata Mangeshkar remain popular till date.

[54] His next release was Bhimsingh's drama film Mehrban which also had Ashok Kumar, Nutan, Mehmood, Sulochana Latkar and Shashikala in the lead.

Chopra's suspense thriller Hamraaz which received positive reviews from critics, eventually emerging a blockbuster and Dutt's third consecutive hit of the year.

With its bare-bones plot about an innocent naïve young man Bhola, who falls in love with his dancer-singer neighbour Bindu and wins her over in a not-so-honest but oh-so-charming way, the focus in Padosan is entirely on scene mechanics and individual performances.

Krishan's poetry also allowed the editor and director a lot of freedom as they could choose the appropriate shot for every emotion expressed in the songs.″[60] The year 1969 saw the rise of superstar Rajesh Khanna, who stormed the nation with Aradhana and Do Raaste.

[62] That year Dutt only saw success with Raj Khosla's Chirag and Khalid Akhtar's Meri Bhabhi while the rest of his films didn't do well.

[7] The year 1973 marked Dutt's return to the big league with Sultan Ahmed's dacoit drama Heera, which proved to be a massive hit.

[65][66] In 1976, Dutt had two releases - Rajkumar Kohli's horror film Nagin and Raj Khosla's action drama Nehle Pe Dehla.

[70] In 1978, Dutt donned the director's hat for Daaku Aur Jawan, co-starring Vinod Khanna, Reena Roy and Leena Chandavarkar.

[72] In 1979, he reunited with Rajkumar Kohli for another multi-starrer horror film Jaani Dushman, which took a bumper opening and emerged a blockbuster as well as one of the highest-earners of that year.

[73] Dutt began the new decade with a pivotal supporting role in Ramesh Sippy's mega-budget action crime drama Shaan (1980).

[79] In 1982, he appeared alongside Dharmendra and Jeetendra in Rajkumar Kohli's action thriller Badle Ki Aag, which was a box office success.

[80] The following year, he directed, produced and starred in the drama film Dard Ka Rishta, alongside Ashok Kumar, Reena Roy, Smita Patil and Khushbu Sundar.

[82] Dutt followed it with a minor setback as he had a string of critical and commercial failures from 1984 to 1985 with films, such as - Raaj Tilak, Laila, Yaadon Ki Zanjeer and Faasle.

[83][84] This changed in 1986 with the critically acclaimed venture Kala Dhanda Goray Log and a hit in Watan Ke Rakhwale, the next year.

[85][86] After appearing in Dharamyudh (1988), he went on a brief hiatus and returned to big screen in 1991 with Yeh Aag Kab Bujhegi (which he also directed), Kurbaan and Pratigyabadh.

While the lattermost was a box office failure, Yeh Aag Kab Bujhegi proved to be an average fare and Kurbaan emerged a major commercial success.

[94] In 1987 when Punjab was facing heightened militancy, Dutt, accompanied by his daughter Priya undertook a 2,000 km 76 day long Mahashanti Padyatra (journey by foot) from Bombay to Amritsar (Golden Temple) to establish communal harmony and brotherhood.

[98]His political career was halted for some years in the early 1990s when he worked to free his son from jail after he was arrested for keeping an AK-56 that he claimed was for the protection of his family after bomb blasts in Bombay.

[103] With his wife, Dutt formed the Ajanta Arts Cultural Troupe, which involved several leading actors and singers of the time, and performed at remote frontiers to entertain the Indian soldiers at border.

[106] At the time of his death, he was the Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports in the Union Government led by Manmohan Singh and was the Member of Parliament from North-West Mumbai.

[116] He is known for his acting, mannerism, charm and to dare to take up risky and non-commercial projects in his prime years, such as Mujhe Jeene Do, Yaadein, Padosan and Reshma Aur Shera.

[117][118] He was also noted as a serial talent-spotter, giving major breaks to then struggling actors Amitabh Bachchan, Vinod Khanna, Ranjeet and Shakti Kapoor in his home productions Reshma Aur Shera and Rocky respectively.

[124] Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said, “A colorful and charismatic personality and a celebrity in the world of cinema, Sunil Dutt touched the millions in our country through many of his purposeful and socially relevant roles in numerous films.