Vidhu Vinod Chopra is a filmmaker based in India who is nowadays regarded as one of the most revered film producers in the Hindi cinema. His name is linked with such blockbusters as 3 Idiots, PK, Sanju, and recently, such a critically acclaimed film as 12th Fail. However, icons too have some downsides, and the tale of Chopra with Munna Bhai MBBS, a movie that has now become a cult movie, was not the easiest in the beginning.
During a candid chat on SCREEN on the occasion of ‘Creator x Creator, Chopra reminisced about the 2003 Sanjay Dutt-sked comedy, which was a revelation in his career, as well as the Indian comedy scene in general. And wouldn’t you know it, all that started because of rejection, lots of it.
Munna Bhai MBBS: A Movie No One Wanted: The Battles Before Making it
At the time when Munna Bhai MBBS was finished and ready to be released, Chopra believed that the mixture of heart and humor the film has would be a sure hit. Yet the response received at the distributor level, particularly in South India, was not very encouraging.
Munna Bhai MBBS was released to empty cinemas, recollecting Chopra with laughter and surprise. What a film turned out to make was to make me rich, despite the fact that no one, apparently, outside of Mumbai had an interest in purchasing it.
There is a single memory Chopra recalls: A South Indian distributor, who had agreed to buy the film for 11 lakh, showed up to take the print only four days before the release. He was harsh after watching the movie. He said to me, This movie will not last a day. The lingo is over-Bambaiya. It can not be understood by people outside of Mumbai, was the reply given to Chopra.
Munna Bhai MBBS: Bambaiya Lingo Was a Gamble — And It Paid Off
The major theme of Munna Bhai MBBS is its shameless leaning on the street culture of the city of Mumbai. Munna Bhai, played by Sanjay Dutt, and his adorable sidekick Circuit, played by Arshad Warsi, also talk in Bambaiya Hindi, a medley of Marathi-flavored street language, colored slang, and local touch that very much suited the tone of the film, but was entirely alien to the rest of the world.
Chopra is now proud to admit that the dialect was a gamble- but a gamble he was ready to take. The movie got a soul through the language. It was vulgar, organic, and funny. And yeah, people were at the beginning puzzled by it, but that is also what made it memorable, he said.
Munna Bhai MBBS: A Big Hearted Gesture and a Movie Risk
Chopra proposed a full refund even when the distribution agency said that he disapproved of the film. ”I notified him that I would refund the 5 lakh rupees which he had already paid already”, he informed. Yet when the distributor lost faith in the project, he recommended the retention of the sum as a security deposit on the next film to be made by Chopra.
Nonetheless, it was clear that Munna Bhai MBBS was not distributed in the South and the movie had been missing a large portion of the market. Chopra, the eternal optimist, though, managed to fix it.
I also had friends in Chennai, Shyam Shroff and Bala Shroff, who owned a cinema. They only allowed me one morning show, which was at 11 AM, and that too on very short notice. I got 5 lakh to sell the print. eventually, that single centre made me more than 1 crore of rupees, and he could hear the euphoria in his voice when he said, and this is the truth.
The Strength of Word of Mouth
During the initial days, it felt that the doomsayers were correct. Theatres were not filled. Chopra said no one came on the first day or even on the second day. And then, what followed is every marketer’s wish to come true: organic word-of-mouth.
It began to be talked of. People laughed, cried, and shared with their friends. Suddenly, shows were packed. We did not invest crores in marketing. This turned out to be our biggest promoters as the audience became interested in us.
The reason Chopra is anti-marketing, and proud of it
This encounter influenced the perceptions of Chopra on marketing of films. Of course, I am not anti-marketing, he corrected me, but I can not believe in hyping something that is not good. Keep a heart in your film, and people will find it.
He gave an example of his latest song 12th Fail. The Vikrant Massey-star drama did not make much on its opening box office collections, as it made between 10 and 30 lakh on its opening day. However, the movie increased in momentum as critics and filmgoers wrote reviews and comments.
It has been said that, even though 12th Fail was released on an OTT platform only two months after, it ran in the cinemas over a period of seven months, as he told me. It is not marketing, but storytelling that can connect.
Risky Productions to Box Office Gold
One of the biggest traits of Chopra has been his knack for identifying rare stories and relying on new voices that have not yet been tried. This was a debut movie directed by Rajkumar Hirani, who became, as well, one of the most successful filmmakers in Bollywood, as his movies, 3 Idiots, PK, and Sanju, directed by him, were huge hits, all produced by Chopra.
Theme: People criticized me that I was mad to risk betting on new directors and innovative scripts. Nevertheless, Chopra would always think that original stories will find their audience, she said.
Zero Se Restart and Making of 12th Fail
Chopra also created Zero Se Restart, a documentary behind the scenes making of 12th Fail, in which the obstacles and struggles involved in creating the sleeper hit are presented. The film is directed by Jaskunwar Kohli and has a sense of purest form of storytelling. Amazon Prime Video can now stream it.
According to Chopra, transparency is not only a matter of documentation but a manner of helping the next generation be inspired. Young people making movies should all realize that even the greatest can begin as failures, and in failures, he added.
The Big Takeaway: Faith, not Fear
The writer, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, of the movie Munna Bhai MBBS, is not telling a story of a movie but a story of faith, survival, and the heart. When the distributors were only focusing on the market patterns, Chopra believed in the script. He used the strength of good storytelling when marketers needed assurances. And when the audience was at length present, late but full-hearted, he was justified.
In a world where it might seem the films are either over-engineered, over-marketed, and utterly mediocre, it is hard not to love the simplicity of the philosophy of Chopra, which is, Do good work. Believe in it. All the rest will follow.
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