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INTERVIEW WITH SANJAY DUTT :

Q. Ten things you hate about shootings.
A. Waking up early in the morning, lighting, redoing the lighting after two takes, shooting nights, rest is good.

Q. Good things about Munnabhai
A. I just love Munnabhai's character, I just love Circuit. I was dubbing. There is so much of bonding between Circuit and Munnabhai. I mean its so obvious when we see it and so rare to find this kind of bonding in cinema. According to me nobody can play Circuit except for Arshad.

Q. There is this story that while casting for Munnabhai, you were cast for Zaheer. Just tell us this story.
A. Yeah. See, Vinod is like a brother, family for all of us. And I told him any movie you make whether it’s one scene I will do. So he called me and he said there is this role, will you do it. I said yes. So he said okay then go and read the script upstairs. So I went upstairs and had a couple of cigrettes for half an hour. And I come down and tell him fantastic script. I have no clue about it. So he says that woh Zaheer ka role hain, kar lega ki nahin. I said yes definitely. And then next day he called me and says where are you? I said I am working. He said come and meet me, I said okay. Then he says will you do Munnabhai. Sir, I am doing Munnabhai. He says idiot, its not Zaheer's role, will you do Munnabhai. I said I can’t believe it. He says Yesterday when I saw you, I mean there's nobody who can do Munnabhai except for you. And I am so grateful and so honoured I got to do Munnabhai and I think this is one character which will live forever.

Q. What do you love about the character?
A. He's honest, he's humble, he's not pretentious, he's unbelievable. I mean like there's one scene in Lage Raho where Jhanvi says ke kal Gandhi jayanti hain. He doesnt even know who Gandhi is. He's so simple. Its such an honest scene where I am asking Arshad ke Gandhi kaun hain, that scene on the bike. So these are unbelievable qualities of Munnabhai.

Q. After the success of MBBS, what were the general reactions.
A. I will tell you this in 2-3 words. Everywhere in the world people call me Sanju baba. But after MBBS it all changed. They call me Munnabhai. So it’s that kind of an effect.

Q. There's one friend of yours who said that they will make Circuit Munna dolls.
A. Yes they wanted to do this doll thing. I mean how they do for Batman, Spiderman and all, they wanted to make Circuit and Munna's doll. You press the button and all those dialogues will come - Mamu and this and that. I told Vinod about it. May be he will. I will talk to Vinod about it.

Q. Which is your personal favourite in MBBS, scenewise.
A. I think MBBS was, I mean everything. I can’t say ‘cos it was such a brilliant film, each and every scene was amazing. Like Circuit and me are walking back and kick that can and we are drunk and gaon jaake kya karega, tereko hal bhi chalane ko nahin aata hain, he says.. you remember that scene. And that changeover where he is laughing and suddenly he's got tears in his eyes and he sys ke maa ki bahut yaad aati hain. Amazing scene.

Q. How many times have you seen MBBS?
A. I have seen 50 times. The other day it was coming on Zee I think. You know how many calls I get. People just don’t want to change the channel. I mean once they are seeing MBBS, they are done. Its unbelieavable.

Q. In Ahmedabad there is one restaurant Anjoy. In that restaurant everyone is dressed like Munna and Circuit and whatever they say like Jaddu ki Jhappi and there is one guy whose dressed like Babuji, goes around the restaurant and asks ke khana kaisa hain and all.
A. Unbelieavable.

Q. They are just hardcore fans, just waiting for Lage Raho... They are working on the theme ke kya hoga, kaise hoga. ANy other stories like this you heard.
A. You know I read an article in Readers’ Digest and it was about this guy who was had diabetes without realising it. And he saw Munnabhai and the climax.. remember when he is talking about the symptoms in front of that whole school. He realised he had the same symptoms and he got saved. I have met so many doctors, I mean I travel a lot. They come and say this is an education for us just to see Munnabhai. I mean we forget the human touch. We forget.. everything is medicine no.. but there is something beyond medicine which MBBS enforced like it may be only a hug. That kind of an effect it had.

Q. What was your reaction when you came to know that your dad is going to act?
A. I felt happy and nervous as well. First day when he called me into his van, we just chatted for 45 minutes, made me comfortable. And it was brilliant just working with him you know. He was so proud of the fact that he was working with me, he was so proud that the movie did well. You know.. unbelieavable.

Q. What message does Lage Raho carry?
A. Non voilence, peace. I mean people have forgotten Gandhiji's teachings. It’s all brought back through Munna and I think its a very amazing film. It will revive Gandhiji back. Gandhiji's teachings will come back.

Q. How will you rate Munnabhai with the current crop of films?
A. Munnabhai is an honest film. You are not trying to prove a point. I feel that’s complete cinema. It’s so honest. And I just wanna thank Raju that he really thought of me as a Munnabhai and it is such an honour and pleasure to play Munnabhai. Raju is non corrupt and everything about him is from the heart. I remember the first day on the sets of MBBS I couldnt even believe he can say one more for me. The film is made brilliantly only because of his honesty. Just to say no to people after MBBS, its unbelievable. I mean I couldn’t do that. I mean you have to survive in the world, you have a wife, kid and after MBBS success just to say no it’s incredible. And that’s why his movies are so honest because he is honest. I think he's one of the best directors.

Q. Boman.. worked in MBBS and now Lucky SIngh in Lage Raho.
A. I tell you Boman is a great actor. I mean I saw him in MBBS for the first time and me and my pa use to see him funny talking Hindi. And he has scenes with my dad and all that stuff. It was great. The whole atmosphere in Munnabhai was different. Its fun, people are interacting, actors are not competing with each other, they are complementing each other. Its unbelievable. And what Boman has done, Lucky Singh's role is very difficult role for him. For me I could coz I am Punjabi you know. And to pull that off, and the way he has acted, the way he worked in this film, its unbelievable. I tell you after this film, he is in a different league.

Q. Any particular scene you enjoyed?
A. I enjoyed each and every scene. The dialogues, the humour are so natural, I mean its not buffoonery, its situational comedy. It is just the lines. And Munna being an honest guy and he says it so honestly, it works you know.

Q. And after each shot Raju use to come and say oh what a shot and then come and hug you.
A. Yes, I have already spoken about Raju. You know I have seen change in Raju from first Munnabhai to this one. I see more confidence in Raju. And he's so focussed. And its such a difficult film to make - Lage Raho Munnabhai. It’s very, very difficult. Just to pull that off just from his conviction, its unbelievable. When you see him so much there, then we all jump into the same boat with Raju. Its brilliant.

(And haan one of the things I hate is the locations you guys use.)

Q. After this MBBS you know, Namrata was saying that Bhaiya comes and talks about the scenes and he's never done that. Can you please tell me what makes you..
A. You know for an actor good work is the ultimate thing. I used to come back from the sets, I use to narrate them the scenes, how it is and the way Munna and Circuit, I can see but Circuit can’t. I mean you know I have really enjoyed this film. Even MBBS.

Q. You had any pressure doing the sequel because as a norm, sequels don’t work.
A. See, I didn’t have the kind of pressure what Raju must have had. You know I had to go Munnabhai. For him to make a sequel and to make it better than MBBS was a big challenge. And you know how many drafts and how many .. Munnabhai was a lawyer sometimes.. till the time this came up. For him to even think and make a script like that is unbelieavble. Vinod and him and whoever is involved.. is unbelieavable.

Q. How do you like the fluidity of the dialogues.
A. Its fabulous. I mean anybody can say. Those are dialogues any man in the street can say. Its not difficult, its so natural. Its beautiful.

Q. How can you relate with Munna?
A. Yeah I could relate with Munna a lot. Its just like what I said, honesty,warmth, love, emotions, helping people. So I do relate with Munna.

Q. Tell us about the kissing story where we all went.
A. Yeah it was on the sets. Sheena told the makeup man to make up some lips on my cheeks. I said why are you doing this all. There are 5-6 girls over there. Unko lipstick lagake fatafat, and it worked.

Q. What about music?
A. Music is situational, its good. To be honest with you, I like MBBS music better. May be the situation was better. Like Dekh le, here there are no situation like this. Apun Jaisa tapori, the way it was picturised was unbeliavable. Its not like ke song chal raha hain, chalo bathroom jaake cigarette phukke aate hain, no, there was a story behind it. Munna is narrating what happens. Here Shantanu did a great job and even Anu Malik did a great job.

Q. In Lage Raho, you and Arshad are singing one song, and Arshad was very scared and you were saying that dar mat, ho jayega like you are a pro in it.
A. No I am not a pro, See Sanjay Gupta makes me sing in each of his movies. So koi doosra dhanda ho jayega when I flop as an actor.

Q. And how you maintained in the song Samjho ho hi gaya song because that was picturised in late nights and u hate shooting late nights.
A. No it was good yaar.

Q. Tell us about Vinod.
A. Vinod is like family yaar. I mean when my father died he was the first person I called. I mean what I should have done to give a bath to my father, I couldn’t do it. He had to do it. I mean thats how close he is to this family. And he loved Munnabhai than anybody else. If He doesnt like you, he will tell you I don’t like you. He's so passionate about his work. He is so passionate, that we get inspired by it. I remember doing MBBS, nobody was buying the film. And to have guts like that ki come here watch the movie. You like it, you take it. And he showed it to how many other people. It could have gone anywhere. People could have said it’s a bad movie. But you know to have that kind of conviction and guts. And he told me that Sanjay I will give it to you in writing that this movie is going to be one of the biggest movie of yours. You just need to see his passion. Its unbelievable.

Q. Are you waiting for Hollywood version ?
A. Oh yeah, it wish they start shooting. I wish I could be there on the sets, You know it would be a great moment for me just to be there. See Chris Walker be the Munna.

Q. Just share the experience of the song pictuarisation which we had, there was such a crowd on the road, it was impossible to shoot. You said that you never seen this kind of a crowd in your career. Munna and Circuit have became such cult figures.
A. Yeah. These people have not come to see Sanjay Dutt or Arshad, they came to see Munna and Circuit on a bike, on a road. It just freaked people out. I mean I have never seen such kind of people in Bombay at least. And other day Arshad told me that I can’t believe the amount of crowd you pull. I said I am not pulling any crowd, its Munna and Circuit.

Q. Just from marketing point of view, what does Lage Raho have to offer to people.
A. Lage Raho, like MBBS has a message of non voilence. Its hilarious. Its fun. Its a full film I mean. It’s rare to see a film like that. A friend of mine in Chicago saw MBBS 200 times. And for him to say Lage Raho is even better than MBBS is unbelievable.

Q. How was your association with Circuit, ur chemistry?
A. See if Circuit is not there, Munna is not there. It is just that. Equation between them is that. There are no egos between us. There was such an healthy atmosphere in the sets.

Q. You know you were more involved with Raju in terms of supervising the scene and be an interpreter and Raju use to be like Oh wow, this is something which is amazing. So how, what made you..
A. I believed in MBBS. I know I was more involved in Lage Raho than in MBBS. I became more comfortable doing Munna. Just coming before onto the sets where we shot the first scene in Dhobighat, I must have seen Munnabhai atleast seven times before coming to the set just to get into Munna. You know after three years to maintain that honesty, that dignity everything, its very tough. Even Arshad had a tough day.

Q. Something about Vidya as an actress, as an co-actress.
A. We have worked together in Parineeta and I found her she was really great actress. Parineeta she was protected always all the time. Munnabhai is all together a different kind of role. She's done so well. I can tell you that nobody else could have played Jhanvi except for Vidya. She's a wonderful person, very warm in heart, a woman with respect and dignity.

Q. Which location did you enjoy shooting?
A. None.

Q. Tell us about that cancer hospital where you took DVDs of Munnabhai.
A. I went there couple of months ago, somewhere in Bandra east where there are almost all kids. They were suffering from cancer. And they requested me to come there, they wanted to meet Munna. And I couldn’t believe it. And they wanted DVDs of Munnabhai. And I went there and there were 20-25 kis there and all of them were saying give us Jadoo ki Jhappi. SO this is the kind of effect Munna has over them yaar.

About the recent violence.
Its an act of cowardice I mean killing innocent people. I mean its the worst thing anybody can do targeting innocent people who coming back from work. To do something like that, it’s terrible but I think the people of Mumbai are tough. Keep it up.

Freedom to me is one of the most important things in the world and we all take it for granted. So I think we should all value it and cherish it.

Article provided by Eros