Sanjay Dutt tells Vidhu Vinod Chopra he’s waiting for Munna Bhai; fans believe it’s a hint

Sharing a motion poster of the upcoming film 12th Fail, helmed and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, who also bankrolled the Munna Bhai franchise, Sanjay Dutt noted on social media: “Film looking great sirji, praying it’s a winner, all the best, now waiting for Munna bhai 😃😃”.

As soon as Sanju Baba posted this, his fans went into a frenzy, wondering if this was a hint that discussions about Munna Bhai 3 were in progress.

Film looking great sirji, praying it’s a winner, all the best, now waiting for Munna bhai 😃😃 pic.twitter.com/gqzy3NbwDW

— Sanjay Dutt (@duttsanjay) October 2, 2023

“Sanju bhai, I have been waiting for Munna Bhai 3 for at least 12 years now,” one user noted on Twitter, while another one commented: “I’m also waiting for MUNNABHAI 3 😍😍😍.”

While Munna Bhai MBBS also starred Sunil Dutt, Gracy Singh, Arshad Warsi and Boman Irani in key roles, alongside Sanjay Dutt; Lage Raho Munna Bhai only had Sanju and Arshad reprising their respective roles from the first film. The sequel also featured Vidya Balan, Jimmy Sheirgill, Dia Mirza and Boman Irani.

Released in 2003, the first Munna Bhai movie also ushered in a new phase in Dutt’s languishing career. In 2021, while taking part in an event organised in Nagpur to celebrate the 19th anniversary of the first film, Dutt told news agency IANS that he was tired of requesting director Rajkumar Hirani to plan another sequel to the movie. “Since he hails from Nagpur, I appeal to Nagpurians to press him to make Munna Bhai 3,” he said back then.

In fact, Sanjay Dutt had not even heard the script before he gave his nod to the first movie; his reason to be a part of the film? Producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra. “Vinod is family, he’s like a brother to me,” Sanjay had said in a clip released by the production house.

Sanjay Dutt is now gearing up for the release of his first Tamil venture, Lokesh Kanagaraj’s Leo, starring Thalapathy Vijay in the lead role. It will hit the screens on October 19.

Meanwhile, Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s 12th Fail, starring Vikrant Massey and Pallak Lalwani in key roles, is gearing up for release on October 27. Adapted from Anurag Pathak’s bestselling novel of the same name, the film is inspired by the life story of IPS officer Manoj Kumar Sharma and IRS officer Shraddha Joshi.

Vidhu Vinod Chopra said his directorial is homage to bureaucrats of the country. “If an honest person is in a position of power, the world can truly change. I have seen that with countless IAS and IPS officers I have come across in the process of writing this film,” he noted in a statement, news agency PTI reported last year.