Sanju Director Reveals How Munna Bhai 3 Made Way For Sanjay Dutt Biopic

New Delhi: This June, we could have been flocking to the theatres to watch Munna Bhai 3 but no complaints here as now, we'll head to watch Sanju. In a recent interview to Outlook India, filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani revealed how the next version of Munna Bhai film made way for the Sanjay Dutt biopic. Talking about his meeting with the 58-year-old actor right after Mr Dutt completed his jail term, Mr Hirani told Outlook India: "I had actually gone to meet him to discuss the next Munna Bhai movie, but after listening to his story, it fascinated me to know that someone can actually have a life like his."

Mr Hirani also added that the conversation with Sanjay Dutt sparked great interest and inspired him to start prepping for a biopic on the actor: "I called my co-writer, Abhijat Joshi, and told him the crazy stories I was hearing about. After that, we sat with him for hours over the next 25 days, from early evenings to the wee hours, every day. Then I met former Mumbai police commissioner Rakesh Maria, who had been associated with his case, to know his side of the story. I also met Sanju's lawyers, family members, friends and others who were part of his life." He added: "I am going to show the chapters from his life which are not in the public domain." Ranbir Kapoor plays Sanjay Dutt in Sanju.

Mr Hirani, who mentioned that he was struggling to perfect the script of Munna Bhai 3, wanted to give it more time and make way for Sanju instead: "I could have chosen to make the next edition of the Munna Bhai series instead of Sanju. Even if it were a bad Munna Bhai, people would still go and watch it initially. The only reason I have made this film is that I found it to be a very compelling story. I discovered the many sides of it which people did not know."

However, Munna Bhai fans, don't be disheartened just yet because this is also what Rajkumar Hirani said about a third instalment to the franchise: "We wanted to do the third Munna Bhai film and even wrote a lot of it, but we were not able to match the script with the first two. Now, I have found something, though we still have to write it."

Sanju also stars Anushka Sharma, Sonam Kapoor, Dia Mirza, Manisha Koirala and Vicky Kaushal and releases on June 29.