Rajkumar Hirani – Was skeptical of underworld part in Sanjay Dutt biopic

Filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani says he was skeptical of delving into underworld space for his upcoming biopic on actor Sanjay Dutt.

“I am working on Sanjay Dutt biopic and we would start next year. I was skeptical initially as the underworld part is not one of my favourite worlds. Abhijat Joshi (writer) and I sat with Sanjay for 25 days and discovered that we wanted to say this story,” Hirani said on the sidelines of MAMI festival here.

“We wanted to say this story as it is a human story… It is an emotional story. It has fun moments. It is an entertaining story. It is a story about father, son, his friends… his world. The story is in the same league as we make it,” he said.

Dutt, 56, is presently at the Yerwada prison in Pune where he is serving the five-year sentence for possession of illegal arms and ammunition.

Hirani makes it clear that underworld would be a part of the biopic.

“Everything would be part of the film… We are not cutting it,” he said.

Even though Hirani and Dutt are good friends, the “3 Idiots” director insists he would not be biased while making the movie.

“I would not be biased… The film would not glorify him.

I would never ever make a film to glorify someone. I would always make an honest film. I can make a film every year but I take five years to make a film. I have made this film as it is a great story. Besides Sanjay, we have met a lot of other people as well,” he said.

Also, the director would be honest to the film.

“I am a brutal man when it comes to writing scripts. He (Dutt) was bold about saying things. We are not glorifying him… We are saying the story as it is,” he said.

“I am making an honest film otherwise people would say (since) I am his friend, so making this way. I am true to the film. Sanjay has been honest about the film… That was the condition,” he added.

The film has Ranbir Kapoor playing Dutt and Hirani said the “Bombay Velvet” actor was the obvious choice for the part.

“The (story of) Sanjay Dutt biopic is something that we did not have to start from scratch as we had a story. When we heard the story from Sanju, we felt Ranbir was the obvious choice,” Hirani said.

Inputs by PTI