Sanjay Dutt was not the makers' first choice for Munna bhai

Munna bhai MBBS starring Sanjay Dutt is considered one of the cult classic films. This comedy-drama is still fresh in the minds of the audience. But did you know that Sanjay Dutt was not the first choice of the makers for the film? This information was revealed recently by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. He was speaking as a special guest in a session titled Living Movies: Filmmaking and the Creative Life at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) being held in Goa.

Vinod Chopra said this about Sanjay Dutt

In fact, director Vinod Chopra said in his recent interview, "Some other star was supposed to play Munnabhai. I won't name him, my wife will kill me. He, as stars always do, backed out at the last minute for whatever reason. Sanjay Dutt was supposed to play Jimmy Shergill's role, he was not Munnabhai".

Vinod Chopra in the film

Vinod also revealed that Sanjay did not read the script of the film even though he was told that he was playing the lead role. Vidhu said, "When Sanjay came, I said 'You are doing Munnabhai'. He was like, 'I will do whatever you say'. He was not particular about any character. No matter how much we tried, he would not even read the script. I gave the script to Sanju to read, and he came after one and a half hours and said, 'It's an amazing script', he did not read even a single page."

Shahrukh Khan was the first choice of the makers

Let us tell you that Shahrukh Khan was Hirani's first choice for the role of Murali Prasad Sharma aka Munna. A video of Shahrukh Khan has resurfaced on social media in which the actor can be seen explaining why he could not be a part of Munna Bhai MBBS. Shahrukh said, "Munna Bhai, I could not do it because I was injured at that time. I had a spinal operation. I was not sure when I would be able to join it".  

Shahrukh Khan shared this thing

Shah Rukh Khan further told how Rajkumar Hirani did not want to wait for a long time at the beginning of his career and said, "Raju was making his first film. When I signed Munna Bhai MBBS, I was shooting for Devdas. When I got injured, Raju called me from London and asked, 'When will you do this?' With all due respect, Raju was not a big director. He was making a small film. It was difficult for him to wait for a star." The film, released in 2003, featured late actors Sunil Dutt, Arshad Warsi, Gracy Singh, Boman Irani, Jimmy Shergill.

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