All you need to know about Sanjay Dutt's first two wives Richa, Rhea and daughter Trishala who are missing in 'Sanju'

It is a well known fact that Sanjay Dutt got married three times in his life. First to Richa Sharma in October 1987. Second to Rhea Pillai in 1998 and then to his present wife Manyata Dutt in 2008. But, the recently released biopic, that has Ranbir Kapoor playing Sanjay Dutt, doesn't even have a passing mention of his first two wives and daughter - Trishala. And, this has grabbed many people's attention. 

'Sanju' has Dia Mirza playing the role of Manyata Dutt, Sanjay's third wife and mother of Shahraan and Iqra. There is also an elaborate mention of him having 308 girlfriends but the fact that he was married twice before having Manyata in his life has been conveniently swept under the carpet. 

 

A post shared by Glam Mint (@glam.mint) on Jun 30, 2018 at 5:35am PDT

The film traces his tumultous life from the age of 20 - from shooting his debut film Rocky, loosing his mother Nargis Dutt at the age of 26, being sent to a rehab for substance abuse, him being labelled a terrorist to finally becoming a superstar again. The 2-hour-42-minute long film talks about everything but these three ladies.  

During the trailer launch of the film, director Rajkumar Hirani had admitted that he had to compress a lot of characters into one for the sake of brevity but that still doesn't justify their absence from his biopic. We don't even want to think how Trishala would have felt when she would have come to know that her and her mother's chapters have been completely scrapped out from the biopic.

While it's understandable why his then rumoured girlfriends Tina Munim Ambani and Madhuri Dixit Nene's names were not taken in the film, the absence of his previous wives still remains a question. While we figure out why there was not a single mention of such important personalities of his life in 'Sanju', let's list down what all is known about these ladies so far.

Richa Sharma - 

Sanjay Dutt had reportedly met Richa Sharma first in 1985. She had been brought up in New York and had just moved to Mumbai to make a career in Bollywood. Sanjay had apparently fell hard for her simplicty. 

“I met Richa for the first time at the muhurat of one of my films at Hotel Sea Rock.She was wearing jeans and a multi-coloured top. I inquired as to who she was. A few days later, I called her and asked her to go out with me.I soon realised that Richa was different from the girls I had known before.She was not calculating, manipulative or chasing after money. She was a simple girl, a fantastic person to trust. I could no longer live without her," Sanjay had said in an old interview.     

Richa tied the knot with Sanjay in 1987. She gave up her filmy career for him, like Sanjay's mother Nargis had for father Sunil. 

But, their love story soon turned tragic as Richa got diagnosed with cancer just a little over a year after they were married. She was taken to the US for treatment. Sanjay had to return to India reportedly because of his film commitments while their first child Trishala, stayed back in New York with her grand parents.

In October 1992, over three years after leaving India, a cancer-free Richa returned to Mumbai with Trishala. But according to Yasser Usman's book 'Sanjay Dutt: The Crazy Untold Story of Bollywood's Bad Boy',  Sanjay had already moved on.

Old media reports claim that the 'casanova' was planning to divorce his wife for his then co-star Madhuri Dixit, who he was believed to be in a serious relationship with. In an interview to CineBlitz, Richa's sister Ena Sharma had alleged that Sanjay hadn't even come to the airport to pick up Richa and Trishala.

Richa, who was motivated throughout her cancer-battle by the thought of leading a normal family life with Sanjay and their daughter, was taken for a shock when Sanjay filed for a divorce in early 1993. Just after spending some fifteen days in Mumbai, she abruptly flew back to New York. 

That very year, Dutt got arrested under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act. Madhuri reportedly cut off all contact with the actor after he got embroiled in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case. Richa had then said in an interview, "At every point in his life, he needs someone he can lean on emotionally. Like he was dependent on Madhuri. Now that she has ditched him, he is going to be a shattered man." 

Richa passed away three years later in 1996. She died of brain cancer.

 

 

A post shared by Trishala Dutt (@trishaladutt) on May 14, 2017 at 7:07am PDT

Rhea Pillai

As per Ussman's book, model and lifestyle coach Rhea first met Sanjay at his lawyer, Mahesh Jethmalani’s office, while he was out on bail. She was a spiritually inclined person who worked as an instructor for Art of Living. He found the much-needed solace in her company. It was love at first sight for the duo. A close friend of the actor had once revealed that he used to look for excuses to meet her. 

But their relationship too didn't last long.  Sanjay and Rhea got divorced in 2005. She later went on to marry tennis ace Leander Paes while he tied the knot with Manyata Dutt. 

 

A post shared by Sanjay Dutt__ (@duttsanjay__) on Sep 2, 2017 at 9:33am PDT

Trishala Dutt

Trishala has stayed with her maternal grand parents all her life. Around 2007, when news about Sanjay dating small-time actress Manyata started doing the rounds, Trishala wrote an open letter to daddy dukes, requesting him to not marry anyone. 

Part of her letter read: "I don’t want you to get married to anybody. I may sound selfish, but it’s my love that’s speaking. I haven’t ever discussed this with you. I don’t know why, but I have a strong hunch that people use you for the wrong reasons... And you are naive not to understand. But I can see through all the games that women play to win you over. I am a girl, Dad, and I know how to extract anything from a guy. I just have to smile and act like a lost babe in the woods. But I am not one and I know exactly what I want. So please don’t get fooled by these acts. You don’t need any other women in your life now. One woman in your life, and that’s me, is good enough... I will be there with you all the time. I want to move back to Mumbai just to be with you. So please hang on."

 

 

A post shared by Trishala Dutt (@trishaladutt) on Jun 17, 2018 at 6:20am PDT

 

 

A post shared by Trishala Dutt (@trishaladutt) on Jan 9, 2018 at 4:28am PST

Sanjay, ofcourse, married Manyata. Trishala hasn't come down to India ever since. Dutt had famously said that Trishala had dreams of becoming an actor and he wanted "to break her legs." None of this finds mention in the film.