When Akhil met his fave hero, Sanjay

If you remember, TOI had done an article on boxer Akhil Kumar in which he���d told us about his fave hero ��� Sanjay Dutt. Well, that article had set a chain-reaction in motion.
After reading it, Sanjay���s close friends Ajay Marwah and Raj Makhija organised a surprise meeting with Dutt for Akhil and his teammate Jeetender Kumar, at Dutt���s residence on Saturday evening.
Ajay told us over the phone, ���Well, it was actually our friend in Delhi, Raj Makhija who supplies food supplements to Akhil, who first read the DT article. He saw the photo of Akhil posing with Dutt���s poster in the background. Raj is a common friend of Sanjay and mine, and forwarded me the link of the story. I also spoke to Sanju about the article and he was pleased to know that Akhil was his fan."
Ajay then sent Akhil an SMS. ���I SMSed him, saying I was Sanju���s friend. But Akhil thought someone was playing a prank on him. Later, when he realised I meant it, he called me up. He was really excited to know that I was Sanjay Dutt���s old and close friend,��� says Ajay, adding, ���What happened after this is also very interesting. Raj got Akhil and Jeetender to Mumbai around 2.30 pm on Saturday. They had mainly come to attend a function in Mumbai. In the evening, I called up Raj and invited him to get Akhil and Jeetender to my place. That was the first time that I actually met Akhil. Till then, I had not revealed to both of them that I would be taking them to Sanju���s place.
Finally, around 4.30 pm I took them to Sanjay���s residence. Even when we reached the doorstep, Akhil and Jeetender both didn���t realise who they'd be meeting next. And then the door opened. Both Akhil and Jeetender were in a state of shock to see it was Sanjay Dutt who'd done so. Sanju hugged them both. They spent 45 minutes chatting with Sanju at his residence. Sanju's wife Manyata was also there at home, but she couldn't meet them as she was busy with other things. Sanju also offered them some refreshments, but both Akhil and Jeeetender were so shy that they were happy with just a glass of water."
How did Sanju react? "Sanju had already met Akhil a few days back, when he was in Bathinda. So Sanju readily agreed to surprise him. He spoke to Akhil briefly and told him to drop in whenever Akhil was in Mumbai," says Ajay.
Ajay who has known Sanju for past 17 years is also into movie production and shares with us, ���Sanju is like brother to me and we have known each for 17 years now.���
Ajay feels that Akhil is a very humble and down-to-earth person and will definitely win a medal in the next Olympics. ���I also have plans to make a movie on boxing and would like Sanju to act in the movie along with the real heroes of Indian boxing,��� he adds.
So, what does this mean that Akhil would get to act in a film opposite Sanju? While we will have to wait for an update on this one, here���s what Akhil has to say about his surprise meeting with his hero, Sanjay Dutt: ���Mein bahut khush hoon. Kabhie socha bhi nahi tha ke mein ek din Sanjay Dutt se milunga. Kafi umeed hai ki Sanju boxing ke liye kuch na kuch karenge.���
There���s one more thing, meeting Sanju has brought out the poet in Akhil. He reads out to us, a shayari he has written post the meeting, ���Zindagi ajeeb hoti hai, Kabhi haar kabhi jeet hoti hai, Tamanna rakho samander ki gehrai ko choonne ki, Kinaron pe toh bas zindagi ki shuruat hoti hai.���