The sensitive side of Bollywood's 'bad boy' Sanjay Dutt surfaced when he opened his purse strings to save a two-year-old child suffering from cancer, a disease that killed his mother Nargis Dutt.

It started when model-turned-actress Achala Sachdev got a call from a family-friend, a Sikh gentleman, that his two-year-old niece is suffering from cancer and needs financial aid.

"I was stunned," said Achala Sachdev. "I know the Sikh family very well. They're family friends. To hear that their little girl Saishaa, who is just 2, has cancer just shook me to the core. The family wanted me to ask Sanjay Dutt for help from the charitable institution Nargis Dutt Foundation that's named after his mother. Since I know Sanjay, I readily agreed and rang him up," Achala told.

The "Munnabhai" star as usual went many steps further.

"When he heard the seriousness of the situation, he said, 'Forget the foundation. I'll help the girl.' And he immediately agreed to write out a large sum of money for little Saishaa's treatment at the Tata Memorial Hospital," said Achala, who has played herself in films like "Chandni" and "Dil Kya kare".

Sanjay has donated Rs.250,000

"The girl's distraught mother Harjeet Kaur just wept when she heard about Sanjay's generosity. Just goes to show, the industry has its share of good people. And it's people like Sanjay who make our world a better place," Achala said.