Recently producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra shared how and why Sanjay Dutta was selected for the lead role in Munna Bhai MBBS despite of bring banned by the entire industry.
Sanjay Dutt got into the skin of the character of Munnw and now no one can imagine the character to be played by any other actor in Munna Bhai MBBS (2003). Vidhu Vinod Chopra has now revealed that the film was first offered to Jimmy Shergill because Sanjay Dutt was banned in the industry. But later Sanjay was finalized for the lead role.
Vidhu Vinod Chopra spoke at the Kellogg Management School that how he announced the film with a banned actor, Sanjay Dutt and he thought it to be wrong. The producer added that he wanted to stand solidarity with the actor and he also went to his house and announced a film with him.
Vidhu Vinod Chopra also shared that veteran actor Sunil Dutt, father of Sanjay Dutt warned him that he will also be banned be the filmmaker didn’t care about the fact.
Vidhu Vinod Chopra added, “He said he wanted to meet, and he wanted his first comeback film to be with me. I told him, ‘I’ll never make a film with you, I just announced it because it was the right thing to do’.”
The filmmaker recalled to VVC that when Shah Rukh Khan backed out from the film, the lead role was offered to Sanjay. He said, “Then, Shah Rukh, of course, came to me and he had a throat thing… So, I decided that Sanjay Dutt is the right guy. I told him, ‘You’re doing Munna Bhai’. And he’s such a simple fellow, he said, ‘I know’. I said, ‘No, not that role, main Munna Bhai’. He said, ‘Okay, if you say so, I’ll do it’. He never reads a script…”
Munna Bhai MBBS is a story of a gangster who wanted to jr a doctor in order to fulfil his father’s wish. But he had to undergo various hilarious situations after being admitted to a medical collage. The film is directed by Rajkumar Hirani. The movie features Sanjay Dutt Arshad Warsi, Gracy Singh, Boman Irani and Sunil Dutt.
