Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.

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Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.
Image:Munnabhai1.jpg The poster for the film.
Directed by	Rajkumar Hirani
Produced by	Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Written by	Vidhu Vinod Chopra Rajkumar Hirani Lajan Joseph Abbas Tyrewala
Starring	Sanjay Dutt Arshad Warsi Sunil Dutt Gracy Singh Boman Irani
Music by	Anu Malik
Cinematography	Binod Pradhan
Editing by	Rajib Biswasi
Distributed by	Vinod Chopra Productions
Release date(s)	December 19, 2003
Language	Hindi
Followed by	Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006) Munna Bhai Chale Amerika
IMDb profile

Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. is a 2003 Indian musical comedy directed by Rajkumar Hirani and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra with a story much closer to the 1998 film Patch Adams. It is the first film in the popular Munna Bhai series of Bollywood and stars Sanjay Dutt, Arshad Warsi, Sunil Dutt, Gracy Singh and Boman Irani. The central protagonist, Munna Bhai, (Sanjay Dutt) goes to medical school in Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. He is helped by his sidekick, Circuit (Arshad Warsi).

1 Synopsis
2 Cast
3 Awards
4 Remakes
5 Trivia
6 Footnotes
7 External links

[edit] Synopsis

Murli Prasad Sharma, nicknamed "Munna Bhai" ("Brother Munna") is a bhai or a Tapori - a crime don in the Mumbai underworld. His parents wanted him to be a doctor; therefore whenever his father (Sunil Dutt) and mother (Rohini Hattangadi) visit him in Mumbai, he creates the faux Sri Hari Prasad Sharma Charitable Hospital (named after his father) and pretends to live in accordance with their wish.

One year, however, Munna's plan goes awry. His father meets an old acquaintance, Dr. Asthana (Boman Irani) and the two older men decide to marry Munna to Dr. Asthana's daughter, Dr. "Chinki" Suman (Gracy Singh). It is at this point that the truth about Munna is revealed. Munna's parents are heartbroken.

Munna Bhai, who despite his lifestyle is anxious to please his parents, decides that the only way to redeem himself is to truly become a doctor. Therefore he decides to go to school in order to obtain an M.B.B.S. degree; the graduate medical degree in India, which stands for "Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery".

With the help of his right-hand man Circuit and others, he "gains admission" to the Imperial Institute of Medical Sciences, where he runs into Dr. Asthana, who is the dean of the medical school. His success there becomes dependent upon the (coerced) help of Dr. Rustam Pavri (Kurush Deboo).

While Munna Bhai's skills as a medical doctor are minimal, he transforms those around him with the "Jadoo Ki Jhappi" — a method of comfort taught to Munna by his mother — and the compassion he shows towards those in need. Despite the school's emphasis on mechanical, Cartesian, impersonal, often bureaucratic relationships between doctors and patients, Munna constantly seeks to impose a more empathetic, almost holistic regimen. To this end, he defies all convention by treating a brain-dead man called Anand as if the man were able to perceive and understand normally; interacts on familiar but autocratic terms with patients; humiliates school bullies; effusively thanks a hitherto-underappreciated janitor; and encourages the patients themselves to make changes in their lives, so that they do not need drugs or surgery.

Dr. Asthana, who sees all this as symptoms of chaos, is unable to stop it happening. He becomes rapidly more irrational, almost to the point of insanity. Meanwhile, his daughter becomes increasingly fond of Munna Bhai, who in his turn becomes unreservedly infatuated with her. Some comedy appears here, because Munna is unaware that Dr. Suman and his childhood friend "Chinki" are one and the same; an ignorance that Dr. Suman is prone to exploit. Dr. Asthana tries several times to expel Munna, but is often thwarted by Munna's wit or the affection with which the others at the school regard Munna.

Eventually, Munna is shamed into leaving the school of his own accord. On the day of his departure, Anand abruptly wakes from his vegetative state; at this, Dr. Suman gives a speech wherein she criticises her father for having banished Munna, saying that to do so is to banish happiness etc. from the school.

Munna later marries Dr. Suman, learning for the first time that she is "Chinki". Subsequently the medical school – under new management since the retirement of Dr. Asthana – begins to imitate Munna's radical methods of treatment. Munna and Dr. Suman open a hospital in Munna's home village, where they implement Munna's ideas daily. This earns Munna the nickname "Munnabhai – M.B.B.S.", although he has no such title. Munna's parents reconcile with him. His sidekick Circuit marries and has a son, who is nicknamed "Short Circuit" as a pun both on his father's alias and on the process by which an electrical device fails. Anand, restored to full mental health, narrates the story to children.

[edit] Cast

Image:Boman Irani still.jpg

Boman Irani as Dr. J. C. Asthana

Actor/Actress	Role
Sunil Dutt	Shri Hari Prasad Sharma (Munna's father)
Sanjay Dutt	Murli Prasad Sharma aka Munna Bhai
Arshad Warsi	Sirkishwar aka Circuit
Gracy Singh	Dr. Suman Asthana (Chinki)
Rohini Hattangadi	Parvati Sharma (Munna's mother)
Boman Irani	Dr. J. C. Asthana
Jimmy Shergill	Zaheer (Cancer patient)
Kurush Deboo	Dr. Rustam Pavri
Yatin Karyekar	Anand Banerjee (wheel chair patient)
Neha Dubey	Nandini / Hospital dancer

[edit] Awards

Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. was the recipient of a number of awards. At the 2004 Filmfare awards, it received the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Movie, the Filmfare Best Screenplay Award, the Filmfare Best Dialogue Award, and the Filmfare Best Comedian Award in addition to four other nominations. It also won a number of awards at the 2004 Zee Cine Awards including Best Debuting Director, Zee Cine Award for Best Actor in a Comic Role, Best Cinematography, and Best Dialogue.

Other ceremonies include the 2004 National Film Awards where it won the National Film Award for Best Popular Film and the 2004 International Indian Film Academy Awards where it won the IIFA Best Comedian Award.

[edit] Remakes

Gangsta M.D. is an announced English language version of the movie produced by Mira Nair. Vasool Raja M.B.B.S. is the Tamil version starring Kamal Hassan. Shankar Dada M.B.B.S. is the Telugu version starring Chiranjeevi. Uppi Dada M.B.B.S. is the Kannada version starring Upendra.

[edit] Trivia

This film marked the first time Sunil Dutt and his son Sanjay appeared onscreen together. He and son Sanjay had also appeared in Reshma Aur Shera (1971), Rocky (1981) and Kshatriya (1993) but did not perform scenes together.
This was Sunil Dutt's first film role after a long period working in the Indian government since 1993. It was also his last cinematic appearance as he died in 2005.
Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. was originally supposed to feature Shah Rukh Khan (another Bollywood mega star) in the title role. The end credits mention his name and thank him for his inputs to the character ^[1].
While some media reports suggested the influence of the Robin Williams film, Patch Adams,^[2] both director Rajkumar Hirani ^[3] and producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra stated that there was none. ^[4]
The film was followed in 2006 by Lage Raho Munna Bhai.

[edit] Footnotes

^ http://www.rediff.com/movies/2003/dec/19munna.htm
^ "Laughter, The Best Medicine", hindu.com, 2 August 2006.
^ "An interview with Rajkumar Hirani", in.movies.yahoo.com, 2006-02-08.
^ "Why Vidhu Vinod Chopra thinks he is great", rediff.com, 2003-12-17.

[edit] External links

General:

A runaway success: The box-office triumph of "Munnabhai MBBS" seems to have turned it into a cult classic

Reviews:

v • d • e The Munna Bhai series
Films	Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. • Lage Raho Munna Bhai • Munna Bhai Chale Amerika
Characters	Munna Bhai • Circuit
Related articles	Gandhigiri • List of Lage Raho Munna Bhai awards • Lage Raho Munna Bhai soundtrack

v • d • e Films inspired by the Munna Bhai series
First Generation: Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. (Hindi) • Vasool Raja MBBS (Tamil) • Shankar Dada MBBS (Telugu) • Uppi Dada M.B.B.S. (Kannada) • Gangsta M.D. (English) Second Generation: Lage Raho Munna Bhai (Hindi) • Shankar Dada Zindabad (Telugu) Third Generation: Munna Bhai Chale Amerika (Hindi) & (English)