Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. (2003)

Interesting facts

Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. is a 2003 Indian Hindi-language comedy drama film written and directed by Rajkumar Hirani in his directorial debut and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra under the banner Vinod Chopra Films. It features Sunil Dutt in his final film appearance as the father to his real-life son, Sanjay Dutt, who stars as the titular character. Gracy Singh, Arshad Warsi, Boman Irani, Jimmy Sheirgill and Rohini Hattangadi play other roles.

Production

In an interview, Hirani discussed how the idea for the film emerged from his interaction with some friends who were medical students. Later, he also had the opportunity to interact with a lot of medical professionals when some members of his family became sick. These experiences gave birth to the idea for the film.

Hirani had initially conceptualised the film as a television series, and had approached R. Madhavan for the titular role. The actor turned down the role citing that he was busy with other commitments. Later, when Hirani decided to make the series into a feature film, he considered Anil Kapoor for the lead role during scripting stage. However, Shah Rukh Khan was later cast as Munna, but due to his spinal problems, Khan opted out of the film.

Hirani had narrated the script to Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, when Khan was part of the film, during the making of Devdas. Tabu and Rani Mukerji were also offered the role of Dr. Suman Asthana, the latter of whom declined due to scheduling conflicts, before Gracy Singh was cast.

The film marked the on-screen return of Sanjay's father Sunil Dutt after 10 years to play Munna's father. This marked the first only time in which Sunil and Sanjay appeared together, though they both starred in Reshma Aur Shera (1971), Rocky (1981), and Kshatriya (1993), they did not share any scenes together.

Boman Irani was cast as Dr. Jagdish Asthana, a role which was initially offered to Amrish Puri and Paresh Rawal.

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