Seated at the Oritalia restaurant in downtown Vancouver's Le Soleil hotel, Sunil Dutt the powerful politician, global peacemaker and revered Indian actor, cuts a humble figure.

"I come to ask for help," said the 74 year-old Bollywood mega star in an interview with The Asian Pacific Post.

Sunil Dutt at Vancouver's Oritalia restaurant

"She asked me why am I here and not in India...She always felt it was wrong that she was being treated in New York when there were many people in India who were dying of cancer and other sickness because they cannot get treatment.

"She kept saying that she became a star because of the Indian people and that she should be treated at an Indian hospital.

"She said if she lived she would tell Prime Minister Indira Gandhi that every state in India should have a hospital like the one she was at in New York," said Dutt.

Nargis Dutt

Today, 23 years after her passing, Dutt with the help of a growing number of Indians who live overseas ensure that the dying wish of the screen icon is realized through the Nargis Dutt Cancer Foundation.

The foundation was formed in 1981 in New York and now has some 20 chapters worldwide including Vancouver and Toronto. The non-profit chapters function independently with a volunteer board and have raised over five million dollars.

The Vancouver chapter chaired by Manjit Johal is among the most active having collected hundreds of thousands of dollars for mobile hospitals and cancer detection equipment.

Johal said 100 per cent of all monies raised from local fund raising activities go to the charity.

Last week while Dutt was in town, The Vancouver chapter, which started going full throttle in 1987, raised tens of thousands of dollars.

"We use the money to buy equipment...we do not send the cash to India," said Johal.

The equipment, including mobile hospitals, is operated by Indian hospitals and medical personnel.

"Sometimes people here will adopt a village and pay for the expenses incurred for a mobile hospital visit," she said.

The Nargis Dutt Cancer Foundation now has four mobile hospitals running in the Bombay slums, Gujarat, Jaipur and Jalandhar.

Having no boundaries when it comes to providing aid to the poor in the Indian sub-continent, the dollars raised by the foundation have also gone for advanced training of medical professionals, establishment of hospitals and public education.

"We are inspired to give by the untiring efforts of Mr Dutt." Dutt is relentless when inspiring his countrymen who have settled overseas to help the poor in India.

Over the years he has walked from Bombay to Amritsar for peace in Punjab, drove through South Asian countries on a humanitarian mission, helped cricketeer Imran Khan raise funds for his cancer hospital in Lahore and flew to Kenya to raise funds for a hospital in Nairobi.

In Bombay he has become a leading crusader for the teeming slum dwellers and AIDS victims in the city.

Two major accidents--a plane crash and a car crash which left him partially paralysed, have not slowed down the Indian cabinet minister for youth and sports.

Elected for the fifth time to the Indian parliament this year, Dutt has built a reputation as a statesman with a conscience.

Dutt was the only MP to quit after the Bombay communal riots to protest the government handling of a tragic sequence of events that left hundreds dead.

His son, Sanjay Dutt, the quintessential Bollywood bad boy who was introduced to the screen by his dad, is still fighting charges against him laid in connection with a series of bomb blasts in Bombay during the riots.

Last summer, the junior Dutt left Canada in a huff after an article in The Asian Pacific Post about the charges was followed up by the Calgary Herald, Canadian Press, national radio and TV.

Sanjay was shooting the movie Dus in Calgary and felt the mainstream media reports had wrongly accused him of being a terrorist. He swore never to return to Canada.

The elder Dutt commenting on the issue said the Canadian media had done his son an injustice.

"He has not been convicted of anything to do with the bombings and it is up to the courts to decide whether he is guilty or innocent.

"Let the courts do their work...As far as I am concerned he is innocent," said Dutt who described his son as a "big boy who could look after himself."

Dutt said he likes what he is seeing in Bollywood as more and more of the established and upcoming movie stars, including his son are spending time to promote charities.

"It is a legacy my wife and I would like to leave behind," added the champion of peace, benevolence and brotherhood, before he took off to Portland for another round of "I come to ask for help."