Actor Aamir Khan was recently spotted at an event in the city, where he engaged in a conversation with renowned lyricist Javed Akhtar. During the chat, Aamir Khan recalled an interesting anecdote about director Rajkumar Hirani and his early interactions with him regarding the Munnabhai franchise.
Aamir Khan was the first choice for Lage Raho Munna Bhai
Aamir Khan revealed that Rajkumar Hirani had initially approached him with a script for what was supposed to be the debut Munnabhai film. At the time, ‘Munnabhai MBBS’—the 2003 hit that solidified Sanjay Dutt’s portrayal of the gangster-turned-doctor—hadn’t even been conceived. However, the script Hirani pitched to Aamir underwent significant changes and ultimately evolved into Lage Raho Munna Bhai, the 2006 sequel that introduced the concept of Gandhigiri to audiences.
Aamir shared, “Originally, Raju had written a script where he wanted me to play the lead role. The day he came to narrate the script to me, he told me that the script had changed and was now called Munna Bhai 2 (later Lage Raho Munna Bhai), and that he had nothing to narrate to me.”
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Curious, Aamir asked Hirani about the original story, to which the director explained, “The original concept was about a young freedom fighter in India before independence. He’s fighting during the Gandhian era, and during a lathi charge, he is hit on the head and falls into a coma. He wakes up 40-45 years later, only to find that India has gained independence, but he is still stuck in the past. This is why he continues to converse with Gandhi. He doesn’t know that Gandhi has been assassinated—this was Raju’s original idea.”
About Lage Raho Munna Bhai
While ‘Lage Raho Munna Bhai’ eventually starred Sanjay Dutt, Arshad Warsi, and Vidya Balan in the lead roles, the film became a major hit. Although Aamir Khan didn’t join the ‘Munnabhai franchise, his partnership with Rajkumar Hirani proved to be groundbreaking for Indian cinema. The two went on to collaborate on the iconic 2009 film ‘3 Idiots’, which remains one of the highest-grossing Indian films of all time, as well as the satirical sci-fi drama ‘PK’ in 2014.
On the work front, Aamir has ‘Sitaare Zameen Par’ in the pipeline and is also producing ‘Lahore 1947’ alongside Rajkumar Santoshi.
