Vidhu Vinod Chopra: Initially, I wasn’t happy with Hirani’s decision of casting Ranbir as Sanju

After watching the trailer of Rajkumar Hirani’s upcoming film ‘Sanju’ starring Ranbir Kapoor as Sanjay Dutt, can you even imagine anyone else playing Sanjay Dutt’s role? I know the answer has to be a clear and loud ‘No’. But there is one person who wasn’t happy about Rajkumar Hirani’s choice of hero in this highly anticipated biopic of the year!

Well, its none other than filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra, the co-producer of the film, who couldn’t picture Ranbir Kapoor as Sanjay Dutt. In one of his recent interview to The Telegraph, when asked about how did they ended up casting Ranbir Kapoor in the leading role, the filmmaker said, “It was Raju’s (Rajkumar Hirani) idea to cast Ranbir. When he told me about Ranbir, I wasn’t happy at all. I thought someone else, like Ranveer Singh, could play this role much better. I thought Ranveer had the flamboyance, the emotional depth as well as the ability to change himself completely to play Sanjay Dutt. But Raju was adamant that Ranbir would be perfect. And when we started shooting and Ranbir became Sanjay Dutt, I had to kind of eat my words. I think I can best sum this up by saying that Ranbir has become Sanjay Dutt both in swagger and soul.” (Also Read:EXCLUSIVE: Ranbir Kapoor: “I think I am a below average actor”)

The filmmaker who has given Sanjay Dutt two of his career’s biggest hits – ‘Munna Bhai M.B.B.S’ and ‘Lage Raho Munna Bhai’ said that the sense of responsibility while making this biopic was even more since he knows the Dutt family for so long. “The stories that Sanju has told us are mind-boggling. We were like, ‘Are you sure you want the world to know this about you?!’ He had no problems with it, so why should we? Sanju wants the world to know his story and honestly, I don’t think we are answerable to him at all. We are answerable to the people who will come to watch this film… we have to give them a good film. We have, of course, taken cinematic liberties and added some fictional bits, but Sanjay Dutt is well aware of all that,” shared the filmmaker.

When questioned regarding the film glorifying a controversial figure, Chopra said, “When you watch the film, you will know it glorifies nobody. People are saying biopic hai, but essentially, Sanju is a father-son story. It’s a very emotional story, kuch glorification nahin hain. And anyway why should we glorify? Nobody has given us money to make this film; it’s our money. If anything, we are paying Sanjay Dutt, which is stupid… we shouldn’t be paying him. But he’s a good guy. ”

After these interesting revelations, we are even more eager to watch ‘Sanju’. Also starring Paresh Rawal, Manisha Koirala, Vicky Kaushal and Sonam Kapoor in pivotal roles, the film is all set to hit the silver screens on June 29.

Pooja Sharma

Cinephile. Bibliophile. Pluviophile. Selenophile. Autophile. Aesthete. Blood group- Tea positive. Poetry lover. Sucker of rom-coms.

PS: Sharmaji ki Ladki sucks at writing bios.
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