Meena Iyer (BOMBAY TIMES; May 8, 2014)

Sanjay Dutt’s jail term has done him a lot of collateral damage. Rajkumar Hirani has reportedly put the third edition of the Munnabhai franchise on the backburner. Once he wraps up the postproduction of P.K. in the next couple of months, he will concentrate on the actor’s biopic. It has already been reported that Ranbir Kapoor will play Sanjay in the film.

 Sources say many rounds of talks have happened between the Gen-Now superstar and Hirani. “The writing of the project has begun. Raju and Ranbir are excited to work together and are in regular touch,” says our source.

 The same source also informed us that since Raju works on one film at a time and since Sanju’s 42-month jail term began only in 2013, the half-finished Munnabhai script has been relegated to the shelf for now.

 Everyone is aware that there is a deep connect between Ranbir and Sanju. 

 Though the younger actor respectfully calls Sanju ‘Sir’, the two have always bonded with each other. Till a few months before Sanju went to jail, Ranbir would exercise in his gym. He would even take one of the incarcerated actor’s prized motorbikes for a ride whenever he was in the mood for some speed.

 On the palpable excitement around the Sanju biopic, a trade source comments, “Who would have thought that Raj Kapoor’s grandson would play Nargis’ son on screen one day?”