When Sanjay Dutt supported Anupam Kher for slapping a journalist, said, "He just slapped, I would have killed him..."

When Sanjay Dutt supported Anupam Kher for slapping a journalist, said, "He just slapped, I would have killed him..."

• Old video shows Sanjay Dutt supporting Anupam Kher after he slapped a journalist
• Clip sparks debate on media intrusion and actors' response to gossip reporting
• Anupam Kher discusses impact of tabloid journalism on his career and reputation

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An old video of Sanjay Dutt backing Anupam Kher after the actor slapped a journalist has resurfaced online, triggering fresh chatter around a long-forgotten Bollywood flashpoint. The clip, shared on Instagram, shows Sanjay speaking in English and taking an aggressively supportive stand for Anupam Kher.

In the video, Sanjay Dutt is heard saying, “Had I been in his place, I would have broken everything,” before escalating his language while talking about the impact of gossip reporting on actors and their personal lives.

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The resurfaced clip also includes Anupam Kher explaining what he felt was at stake for him beyond one moment of anger. Anupam speaks about his family’s struggle to educate him, and how years of discipline and training felt undone in an instant because of the incident. “Today my education, my etiquettes have gone haywire because I slapped a man because he pushed me to the ball,” he says. He then lists the years he spent in theatre and training, adding, “I did three years of training for the National School of Drama, one-year of training for the Indian theatre, and three years I was teaching and then three years I was sleeping on the road.”

Anupam's frustration is aimed at tabloid-style journalism and what he describes as publishing unverified, personal stories for sales. “And then eight years of work they want to finish that 20 years of... He has the power of writing in a magazine which sells on lies, which sells on somebody's bedroom stories,” Kher says in the clip.

Sanjay Dutt, meanwhile, goes further, claiming such writing can spill into an actor’s home life and damage relationships. “An actor damages relationships at home and stuff like that. And things which are not true. And if you slapped him, I'm always with him,” he says. Dutt then adds a line that has drawn the most attention since the video reappeared: “And if he needs me to break their bones, I'll do. He just slapped the journalist. I would have killed him. If I was in his place.”

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The Instagram post carrying the clip also adds context through its caption. A part of it reads, “1992 was an interesting year where Stardust magazine went way overboard and angered a lot of Hindi film industry actors. Anupam Kher slapped a journalist and was supported by all with the media going against him.” The video was originally shared by Instagram user @bobbytalkscinema.

With the clip now doing the rounds again, the moment has reopened an old debate: where outrage at intrusive reporting ends, and where intimidation and violent rhetoric begins.