Arun Dutt was a wonderful cerebral person: Kalpana Lajmi

Mumbai, July 29 (IANS) Filmmaker Kalpana Lajmi remembers her late cousin Arun Dutt as a "wonderful cerebral person" who "eventually was afflicted by the tragedy that gripped the family".

Geeta and Guru Dutt's son Arun died July 26.

Speaking of Arun, Kalpana, whose mother Lalita is Guru Dutt's sister, said: "I am deeply pained by Arun's death. Now Guru Dutt maama and Geeta maami's doomed family is gone. Along with them, their two sons Tarun and Arun have also given up their lives."

"He actually died of multiple organ failure and cardiac arrest due to prolonged and intense intake of alcohol," she added.

Kalpana recalls Arun as a gentle and troubled soul.

"He was a wonderful cerebral person. But eventually he was afflicted by the tragedy that gripped the family....the tragedy that befalls children of colossal personalities. Can you imagine what a burden it must have been for Tarun and Arun to carry forward their parents' legacy?"

While Guru Dutt allegedly committed suicide in 1965, his elder son Tarun, who had directed Rekha in the 1984 caper "Bindiya Chamkegi", apparently took his own life in 1985.

After their parents death, Arun along with his two siblings - Tarun and Nina - grew up in the homes of their father's brother Atma Ram and mother's brother Mukul Roy.

By all outward definitions the three children of Guru Dutt had a normal healthy childhood. When Tarun Dutt allegedly killed himself, there was a shocked sense of deja vu to the family's tragic history.

Arun was only eight years old when his legendary father passed away. The child didn't know his father's reputation as a living legend.

Apparently, Guru Dutt never encouraged his children to be part of the movie business. He wanted them to be spared the heat and the lust of the entertainment industry.

But once cinema's child, always one. While Nina has dabbled in music, son Tarun tried direction.

Arun, who worked as the director of Guru Dutt Films Acting Academy, wanted to recreate his father's classic "Sahib Biwi Aur Ghulam" but never got around to doing so.