Vidhu Vinod Chopra recalls Munna Bhai MBBS’ dull opening; reveals telling Rajkumar Hirani to make the next film despite losing money

Sanjay Dutt, Arshad Warsi & Gracy Singh starrer Munna Bhai MBBS is a cult film that’s loved by many. The film – which marked the directorial debut of Rajkumar Hirani, satirical comedy-drama about a bhai (don) trying to please his father by pretending to be a doctor. While the film went on to win the 2004 National Film Award for Best Popular Film and achieve a silver jubilee status at the box office, it failed to get the cash registers ringing over its opening weekend.

During a recent chat producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra got candid about the film’s performance and how he wanted to make another film despite the first not impressing still.

Vidhu Vinod Chopra on Munna Bhai MBBS ‘s dull opening

During a recent chat with Bollywood Bubble, Vidhu Vinod Chopra got candid about the Sanjay Dutt-Arshad Warsi starrer having a dull opening. He said, “Munna Bhai MBBS opened to empty theatres. Raju (Rajkumar Hirani) was very upset thinking I lost a lot of money. At that time, I told Raju, ‘Here is a little money, about Rs 11,000.’ He said, ‘I will take nothing.’ I was like, ‘This is for the next film, make one more. It’s a great film.'”

He continued, “At that time, we had about Rs 4 crore. I was like make another film. I didn’t care if Munna Bhai worked or not. Although the film started to pick up pace after Monday, the seats were empty during the weekends. I didn’t really wait for the film to become a success for me to make another film.”

VVC on distributors backing out of their deals in TN

In of the earlier conversations, Vidhu revealed how the distributors in Tamil Nadu had backed out of their agreement after watching the film. The filmmaker said, “After watching the film, Mohammed Bhai (distributor) told us he can’t take the film as no one will understand the story. The decision was made to return his money and this was just three days before the release.”

The producer added, “I called a friend of mine, Shyam Shroff, who was a distributor and got one show added in Satyam, a big theatre in Tamil Nadu. He gave me one single show, 11:45 am show for Munna Bhai. You know how much money I made from Tamil Nadu? Rs 1.67 crore.”

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