“Let me show you something.” Rajkumar Hirani drags a pair of chairs to his edit machine. On the left screen is a blur of colours, like confetti blowing in the wind; on the right, a freeze of someone who looks like a familiar Nineties actor lurking behind a giant flower pot.
Hirani scrolls back and forth till he finds what he’s looking for: Ranbir Kapoor in a Fanta-coloured shirt, blond highlights in his hair, standing in a college classroom. Hirani hits the space bar, and we travel back in time to 2003, to a scene from Hirani’s first film, where his long-standing collaboration with actor Sanjay Dutt began.
It’s a few weeks before Sanju’s release, and I’m with Hirani at his villa, where he’s doing what he loves best: putting some final cuts, wipes and polish to the biopic. Buddy, his affable cocker spaniel, lazes on a leather couch; Dev Anand and Rajesh Khanna stare out of giant vintage posters; and between sips of lemonade, I’ve just asked him who plays Hirani in the film. Considering that he is, for a change, as much part of the story as he is the storyteller. And why we’re watching this recreated scene from Munna Bhai MBBS. “It was the last time father and son worked together, you know,” Hirani tells me. “But no, I’m not in it. What kind of narcissism would that be?”
GQ: At what point did you decide that you wanted to make this biopic?
RH: I was editing PK when I got a call from Sanjay. He was out on parole, his wife was in the hospital. So, I went to meet him. He’d just come from there, and was sitting alone at home. I asked him about the obvious: What’s it like to be in jail? And he started telling me some stories. I went over there at 5pm and left at 3am. The next day, he called me, and we spoke for another eight hours. This time, it was about his life. I realised it was cathartic for him to talk about it, to open up like this. While I’d worked with him on three films, it had been a purely professional relationship. Eventually, I called [co-writer] Abhijat [Joshi] and we ended up going there every evening, for 25 days, sitting for eight hours at a time and recording everything.
GQ: What are the challenges of making a biopic on someone like Sanjay Dutt?
RH: The reason I wanted to do Sanju was that I’ve never heard a more fascinating life story. Biopics tend to be about achievers, people who’ve contributed something to humanity. There’s also always a defined goal: The story of MS Dhoni, for instance, is a rags-to-riches story. We didn’t have that here; instead, Sanju’s about a guy who has made bad choices. But, as they say, bad choices always make good stories.
GQ: What does putting together such a project demand?
RH: My first step was to meet the cops. I met Rakesh Maria, the man who caught him. I met the lawyers, went through the Supreme Court judgements, the charge sheets, everything. We spoke to his friends and family, read about him extensively. The transcript from those 25 days of recording was itself a lot.
GQ: Were there any stories Sanjay told you that you wanted to keep in the film but left out?
RH: With biopics, you have to be very selective. Take Gandhi: Attenborough focused only on the freedom struggle and left out 80 per cent of Gandhi’s life. Then Gandhi, My Father got made, and we got to see the man’s personal life, his relationship with his family. For Sanju, we focused on his journey through drugs and picking up the gun. To me, this is still a story about the father-son relationship, a man’s friendships. Otherwise, I could make ten films on Sanjay’s life. I could do a whole Netflix series on his relationships [laughs].
GQ: How do you reconcile the public image of the Sanjay Dutt you read about in newspapers, say in 1993, with the guy you worked with a decade later, and now this one, who’s laying his life bare to you?
RH: Well, let me put it this way. Until I met him, my perception was based on whatever I read and heard about him. I am not judgmental by nature. I loved some of Sanjay’s films: Vastaav: The Reality, Naam, Khoobsurat. So, to me, he was an actor who did some great films, but also many bad films. That was that.
Sanjay wasn’t the first choice for Munna Bhai, but clearly he did a great job. And when he was telling his story, he wasn’t praising himself; nor was he self-pitying. Every time I asked him to watch the film, he’d just say he’d watch the final version. In his head, he’s fearless. He just doesn’t care. It’s his greatest quality. It’s also why you see him in the film with all his flaws and still love him.
GQ: Apart from Ranbir Kapoor, you also have Vicky Kaushal in the film.
RH: I had seen Masaan and was completely blown away by the film and with Vicky. And he’s done a phenomenal job in Sanju. He was fantastic in Raazi too. So was Alia [Bhat].
GQ: What other new actors are you keen on working with?
RH: I want to work with so many of them – not just the new lot, the old guard too. Hrithik, Varun, Ranveer, Deepika – they’re all so great. But the rate at which I’m going, I don’t know… (laughs)
GQ: Any film-makers you’re watching right now?
RH: I was blown away by what Meghna [Gulzar] has done [with Raazi]. She seems like a director in control. I think that we’re living in the best time for Indian cinema. People are doing such different work, telling all kinds of stories.
GQ: Is it because there are now so many more avenues to show their work?
RH: Of course. I’m not even counting the websites. Nagpur was a very small town when I was growing up, and we had one single-screen theatre, which would show the most popular films of the time; and there would often be re-releases. Hollywood films? Out of the question: If I remember correctly, the first to come to our screens was Star Wars in the Seventies. And often these theatres would be so bad – rats and all – that a certain part of the audience would just watch VHS tapes. It’s why a certain kind of cinema – the sort that Hrishikesh Mukherjee made, for instance – was dying. Then the multiplexes came, and look where we are.
GQ: Who else did you grow up watching and learning from?
RH: I was raised on Hindi films. Hrishikesh Mukherjee, of course; Gulzarsaab. At the Film Institute, I discovered the older masters – Guru Dutt, K Asif, Bimal Roy. Then European cinema, like Bergman and Truffaut, but I could just never connect with any of that.
GQ: What’s next?
RH: Abhijat and I are working on Munna Bhai 3. Eventually, I hope to make documentaries on subjects that you just can’t tackle with fiction.
GQ: Such as?
RH: I’m fascinated with our own existence. Who are we? Why are we here? I’m intrigued by the concept of god, of religion, things like astrology, how people can predict the future. I’m reading the Mahabharata right now, and a book by Wayne Dyer, who’s one of my favourite philosophers. These have been my pet subjects since I was a teenager.
GQ: What’s on your bucket list?
RH: Every time I finish a film, I make a list of things I want to do. Travel the world, learn a musical instrument, catch up on my books and films. And I realized recently that it’s the same list every time. I don’t end up doing anything about it. We finish a film and then jump into the next one.
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