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Sanjay Dutt and Arshad Warsi starrer Munna Bhai MBBS of 2003 remains evergreen in the hearts of Bollywood buffs. Even though it opened to empty theatres, the film later became a commercial success at the box office. Written and directed by Rajkumar Hirani, the satirical comedy drama was produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra.
Apart from Sanjay Dutt and Arshad Warsi, the film also features Gracy Singh, Jimmy Shergill, Arshad Warsi, Rohini Hattangadi, and Boman Irani. Moreover, it also stars Sunil Dutt as the father to his real-life son Sanjay Dutt. Made in Rs 10 crore, the film earned Rs 33 crore, triple its budget. It made debutant director Rajkummar Hirani a star, who later gave several hits and blockbusters.
Sanjay Dutt who played the lead role of Murli Parsad Sharma aka Munna Bhai won applause for his performance. Well, Vidhu Vinod Chopra recently revealed that the actor was initially cast for Jimmy Shergill’s role. Yes! he shared this surprising insight at the ongoing International Film Festival of India in Goa.
The director was quoted saying, “Some other star was supposed to be Munna Bhai. I won’t mention his name, my wife will kill me. He, as usual what stars do, backed out at the last moment for whatever reasons. Sanjay Dutt was supposed to do Jimmy Shergill’s role, he wasn’t Munna Bhai.”
Vidhu also shared that Dutt did not even read the script even after he was told that he was playing the lead role. “When Sanjay came, I said ‘Tu Munna Bhai kar raha hai (You are playing Munna Bhai), the main character’. He was like, ‘Aap jo kahoge vo kar lunga‘ (I’ll do whatever you say), he wasn’t even particular about any character. He doesn’t even read the script no matter how hard we try. I gave Sanju the script to read, he came after one and a half hours and said, ‘Kamaal ka script hai’, he didn’t even read a single page,” Vidhu added.
To note, Shah Rukh Khan was the first choice of Hirani for the role of Munna Bhai. But the actor couldn’t do it because he was injured and had undergone a spinal operation. Rajkumar Hirani did not want to wait any longer as it was his debut film, so he approached Sanjay Dutt, who later received widespread love for his tremendous performance.
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