Famous Bollywood filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra recently shared an interesting story about the early days of his hit film Munna Bhai MBBS. In an interview, he revealed that distributors in South India rejected the film before its release. Many believed it would not work outside Mumbai because of the language and style.
South Distributors Rejected Munna Bhai, Says Chopra
Chopra said that one South Indian distributor who had agreed to buy the film for ₹11 lakh changed his mind after watching it just four days before release. The distributor told Chopra, “This film won’t work even for a day.” Because of this, the film had no distributor in South India.
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With the help of friends who owned a cinema in Chennai, Chopra managed to get just one morning show at 11 AM. He sold the film’s print for ₹5 lakh. Surprisingly, the movie performed extremely well there and earned over ₹1 crore from that one location.
He recalled that when the film was released, theatres were empty for the first two days. But slowly, because of good word of mouth, the film picked up. Chopra said, “When you do good work, it will pay off.”
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Released in 2003, Munna Bhai MBBS was the directorial debut of Rajkumar Hirani and was produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. The film starred Sanjay Dutt as Munna Bhai, a kind-hearted gangster who decides to become a doctor to fulfil his father’s dream.
The movie showed how Munna changes lives at a medical college with his kindness and famous “jadoo ki jhappi” (magical hug). The film also featured Arshad Warsi, Boman Irani, Gracy Singh, and Sunil Dutt.
Despite the initial struggle, Munna Bhai MBBS became a massive hit and is now considered one of the most beloved Hindi films. It also led to a successful sequel, Lage Raho Munna Bhai, which was released in 2006.
Author: Purnima s
Purnima | Entertainment Blogger 4+ yrs writing fun blogs on movies, celebs & trends. Pop culture addict serving fresh, binge-worthy content!
