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Harshada Rege (DNA; December 25, 2015)

The last Munnabhai movie released in 2006. It’ll be 10 years now that fans have been waiting for the next installment. And just when everyone was thinking that maybe there wouldn’t be another Munnabhai movie, Rajkumar Hirani and Abhijat Joshi are all set to surprise the audience. The team that worked on 3 Idiots and PK, post the Munnabhai series is working on the life of Sanjay Dutt, but they promise to bring Munna back on the big screen. Says Abhijat, “We have found an idea for the next Munnabhai movie, which we think is as good as Lage Raho Munnabhai. For all these years we were not going ahead with it because none of the ideas were standing up to that level of Lage Raho Munnabhai. So we attempted various things.” A few years ago, there was a trailer of Munnabhai Chale Amreeka that people assumed would be the next sequel.

“We couldn’t do Munnabhai Chale Amreeka because My Name Is Khan released around that time and it was similar to our idea. So, for the last 10 years, we toyed with various things, but for the first time we have something so stunning that we feel we can make a film which is as great as Lage Raho Munnabhai,” he adds.

Probe him further about the plot and he says, “I can’t reveal anything more, but I can definitely say that the idea is up there with Lage Raho Munnabhai. That’s why we are committed to writing it. It will take about six more months to finish it.”

And will the cast remain the same? “Yes, of course. It will have Sanju and Arshad.” And what about the heroine? Munnabhai MBBS starred Gracy Singh, while Vidya Balan took over in Lage Raho Munnabhai. “All that will be decided on, once the script is finalised. And that will be Raju’s call.”

Hirani too confirmed the development. But the audience will have to wait patiently as the director is now busy with the Sanjay Dutt biopic, which will see Ranbir Kapoor in the lead role. He said, “Munnabhai will happen after the Sanjay Dutt biopic. Once we finish it, we’ll start with this.”

Munnabhai