Rajkumar Hirani turned Sanju into a ‘caricature’: Priya Dutt recalls complaining to Sanjay Dutt, admits she was ‘tempted’ to call director

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Asked if she ever felt like picking up the phone and calling Hirani with her complaints, Priya said, “I was (tempted to), but I think they had a different concept in mind. Their focus was just Sanju, which I get, but it became a bit of a caricature.” Priya laughed when the topic of Vicky Kaushal’s character came up, and said that it was amalgamation of several different friends in Sanjay’s life.

Asked if she shared her honest feedback with Sanjay, she said, “Yes, I did. I said, ‘It’s not what I expected it to be’.” According to Priya, Sanjay seemed to want to let it go. She also revealed that he wasn’t consulted at every stage of production. “I loved Ranbir in it, I thought he played the part very well. But it was just an entertaining film, nothing like a biopic. The intensity was missing.”

That being said, Priya said that her favourite film of Sanjay’s career is the first Munna Bhai, directed by Hirani. The film initiated a comeback for the actor after a period of great difficulty. She said that she was on set the first day of production, when a scene featuring both Sanjay and their father was being shot. Before Animal, Sanju was the highest-grossing film of Ranbir Kapoor’s career; it made over Rs 500 crore worldwide. Hirani last directed the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Dunki, which under-performed at the box office and earned mixed reviews.