Rajkumar Hirani Reveals Dropped Lage Raho Munna Bhai Scene Involving Mahatma Gandhi's Bullet Marks

Rajkumar Hirani Discusses Deleted Lage Raho Munna Bhai Scene

Rajkumar Hirani and Abhijat Joshi spoke with Komal Nahta about their memorable films, discussing how Joshi came on board as a writer for the 2006 cult film Lage Raho Munna Bhai, which starred Sanjay Dutt and Vidya Balan.

Hirani shared details about a novel sequence written for the film that ultimately did not make the final cut, though the thought behind it remained. In the written sequence, residents of an old age home protest against Lucky Singh (played by Boman Irani), and security guards attack the old men, resulting in the death of one resident.

At the funeral, Munna (Sanjay Dutt) and Circuit (Arshad Warsi) react to the death, and an angry Munna wants to kill Lucky. Munna then hallucinates that Bapu (Dilip Prabhawalkar) is standing nearby. When Munna states he will kill Lucky, Bapu replies that violence is not the solution. A strong gust of wind blows Bapu's shawl into the air, revealing three bullet marks on his chest.

According to Hirani, Munna then says, "Aapko bhi toh maar diya," to which Bapu replies, "Teen goli se mujhe maar toh diya lekin mere vichaaron ko nahin maar paaye." Hirani noted that while the scene remained in the script for the longest time, he chose to sacrifice it because he did not want to show an old age home resident dying, though the underlying thought stayed in the film. Bapu's dialogue was ultimately delivered while addressing the audience in the climax.