Hostel experience helped deal with jail time: Dutt

“It is not an easy thing. I don’t understand the jail rules and regulation. There is no communication, you can’t meet your family,” he said in an interview to Karan Thapar on the Devil’s Advocate programme. “I questioned myself. We got independence 60 years ago and yet we are living in the British times. We follow the same British manuals which have been left behind,” the actor said.

On whether he would favour a change in the system, he said, “.... I mean I wish I could change the system but I cannot do anything about it. If we can change the system people could be much better.”

On whether he had wanted to meet his family more often, he said, “It is a very necessary thing to meet them and be connected to them and you can’t meet them always. You can meet your family only once a month”.

On how he feels after being out of jail, he said, “I think one should not live in the past and move on and carry on with your daily activities and carry on with your work and not be left behind”.

“Jail is basically a reformatory.... It is not a good place to be in. If you look at the positive side that is the only connection with God,” Dutt said, adding that he spent long hours praying in prison. Quizzed about his routine in prison, the star of the hit Munnabhai series said he used to make wicker chairs. “It was very difficult” initially. Dutt said that the food though not the best, was edible. But it was difficult to be alone. “It is not an easy thing, but being in a boarding school and all helped me. I pulled it off because of this,” he added.

Asked about his feelings on being out on bail and whether he felt that a sword was hanging over his head, he said, “I don’t think about it. I have to take forward the legacy of my father and my mother.”

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