‘Shah Rukh Khan and Makrand Deshpande were cast as Munna Bhai and Circuit, latter was called Khujli but Arshad…’: Abbas Tyrewala

Shah Rukh Khan was cast with Makrand Deshpande in Munna Bhai MBBS, revealed writer Abbas Tyrewala.

New Delhi | September 20, 2024 03:35 PM IST

3 min read

Shah Rukh Khan and Makrand Deshpande were supposed to play the lead duo in Munna Bhai MBBS.

Rajkumar Hirani’s first film Munna Bhai MBBS revived the career of actor Sanjay Dutt but there was a time when actor Shah Rukh Khan had signed on to play the titular Munna. In a recent interview, the dialogue writer of the film, Abbas Tyrewala, shared that when Shah Rukh was signed on for Munna, Makrand Deshpande was supposed to play Circuit. He also shared that at this time, the character Circuit, which was eventually played by Arshad Warsi, was named Khujli.

Talking to Cyrus Broacha on his YouTube channel Cyrus Says, Abbas said that he does not like to interfere with the film after he is done writing it. He also mentioned that he doesn’t like to visit the set as he is done with his part in the film. When Cyrus asked him what happens when dialogues are changed on the set, Abbas said, “It’s a bang 50-50 ratio of when it has benefitted the film and when it has harmed the film.” He then shared that in the case of Munna Bhai, the changes made the film “infinitely memorable.”

He then shared, “When Munna Bhai was written, Circuit was called Khujli… when Shah Rukh was doing it, and it was going to be played by Makrand Deshpande. Then Sanjay Dutt happened and Arshad came aboard. He was called Khujli because that was far more roadside name.” Abbas said that when Arshad came on board, he rationalised the character and it was then decided that he would be called Circuit.

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“When Arshad came on to the film, he did some rationalising saying ‘what is defining this guy? He seems to lose his temper at the slightest provocation, so he has got a short circuit and that’s how the name circuit happened. I discovered it when I was watching the movie that the character was called Circuit,” he said. When Cyrus asked Abbas how he feels about that decision in hindsight, Abbas called it an “excellent decision” by Rajkumar Hirani. “I think Circuit is infinitely more memorable and more evocative a name than Khujli, which was a lot more generic,” he said and added, “Khujli was also… even though the character was called that, it’s not like I came up with the name. Raju Hirani had come up with the name. So if in his good judgement, he decided that Circuit made more sense, it’s not like Arshad forced it.”

Abbas has written dialogues for films like Maqbool, Main Hoon Na, Pathaan among many others. He is currently writing SRK’s King and Hrithik Roshan’s War 2.

In 2023, Hirani and Khan ultimately worked together in Dunki.

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