As Rajkumar Hirani's blockbuster Sanju completes three years on June 29, Subhash K Jha highlights lessser-known nuggets about the Ranbir Kapoor starrer.
1. Ranbir Kapoor is a big Sanjay Dutt fan. Long before Ranbir played Dutt, he had told me that he hero-worshipped Dutt and that the senior actor would often given him expensive gifts.
They were so close that at one point, Dutt called Ranbir home and berated him for doing out-of-the-box films.
'Yeh kya Barfi aur Laddoo kar raha hai?'
Ranbir could only bow his head and mumble. He said it was bolti bandh for him before Baba.
2. Before Sanju, Ranbir had a few flops and average earners: Besharam (flop), Roy (flop), Bombay Velvet (flop), Tamasha (flop), Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (average) and Jagga Jasoos (flop).
His last hit before Sanju was Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani in 2013.
Sanju is the biggest hit of his career.
3. Was Sanju really a bio-pic on Sanjay Dutt? There was no mention of his first wife Richa Sharma or his daughter Trishala from that marriage.
There was no mention of his second wife, Rhea Pillai.
There was only one woman in the film played by Sonam Kapoor.
The toilet seat around her neck incident never happened in the real Sanjay Dutt's life.
4. Sanjay Dutt's parents -- the legendary Nargis and Sunil Dutt -- were played by Manisha Koirala and Paresh Rawal, who did not resemble them at all.
Hirani should have cast Sanjay Dutt as Sunil Dutt and Tabu as Nargis.
5. Sanju is not only Ranbir's only hit in recent times, it is his only release in the last three years.
His next three releases -- Brahmastra, Shamshera and Luv Ranjan's rom-com -- will not make it into theatres until next year.
7 Facts Sanju doesn't tell you
'The story of Sanju is different from the Sanjay Dutt I know'
'The biggest thing I want to take from Sanju is a hit'
'Sanju will touch your heart'
'It was a terrifying phase of my life'