Munna Bhai

Murliprasad Sharma, better known as Munna Bhai, is an Indian fictional character who appears in the Munna Bhai film series. The character is created by Rajkumar Hirani and portrayed by Sanjay Dutt.

Munna Bhai
Munnabhai series character
Portrayed by Sanjay Dutt
First appearance	Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.
Last appearance	Lage Raho Munnabhai
Created by	Rajkumar Hirani
Portrayed by	Sanjay Dutt
In-universe information
Full name	Murliprasad Sharma
Gender	Male
Title	Bhai
Occupation	Organized crime Fake medical student (1st film) Fake professor (2nd film)
Family	Hariprasad Sharma (father) Parvati Sharma (mother) Sarkeshwar "Circuit" Sharma (friend)
Spouse	Dr. Suman "Chinki" Asthana (1st film) Janvi Sahni (2nd film)
Children	2, with Chinki (1st film)
Religion	Hindu
Nationality	Indian

Films overview

Main article: Munna Bhai (film series)

Murli Prasad Sharma (portrayed by Sanjay Dutt) is a leader in the Mumbai underworld. His nickname Munna Bhai has a double meaning; bhai literally means [brother], but in Mumbai slang it has also come to mean a hoodlum.^[1] His sidekick is Circuit (portrayed by Arshad Warsi). They both speak in Bambaiya Hindi, a dialect specific to Mumbai, India.

Munnabhai M.B.B.S.

Main article: Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.

Munna Bhai was first introduced in the 2003 film Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. which involves his adventures as a faux medical student, who finally tells the truth about himself and learns to help people along the way.

Lage Raho Munna Bhai

Main article: Lage Raho Munna Bhai

In the second movie, Lage Raho Munna Bhai, Munna Bhai becomes a faux professor. He begins to have visions of Mahatma Gandhi who persuades him to stop pretending he is a professor and teaches him to help other people solve their problems through Gandhism, which Munna Bhai terms Gandhigiri.^[2]

TV commercials

A television commercial named "Munna Bhai fight against dengue" made by the Minister of Health and Family Welfare (India) in 2016 features 'Munna Bhai' and 'Circuit'. It was made to create awareness of dengue fever.^[3] Dutt reprised his role of Munna Bhai in several Acko commercials.^[4]

Popularity

The character Munna Bhai was counted as one of top 20 fictional characters in Bollywood.^[5] The film Lage Raho Munna Bhai popularized the term Gandhigiri.^[6][7][8]

See also

• Laxman Gole a contemporary Indian Gandhian who has been described as the real-life Munnabhai.^[9]

Notes

1. "Bhai: Sacred Games". Archived from the original on 8 July 2007. Retrieved 20 July 2007.
2. "Munna and Circuit are divine fools'". rediff.com. Rediff.com India Limited. 1 September 2006. Archived from the original on 9 February 2007. Retrieved 18 January 2007.
3. "Mumbai emergency rom: Ahead of monsoon, Centre's mobile app to help curb dengue". The Indian Express. 19 May 2016. Archived from the original on 30 July 2016. Retrieved 15 October 2023.
4. "Why did Acko bring Munna Bhai and Circuit back to life?". afaqs!. 26 September 2023. Archived from the original on 6 October 2023. Retrieved 15 October 2023.
5. Indian cinema@100: Bollywood's 20 best characters - NDTV Archived 20 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine. NDTV. Retrieved July 14, 2014
6. Allagh, Harjeet Kaur (31 January 2009). "Bole tho... Gandhigiri". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 3 January 2013. Retrieved 2 March 2009.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
7. Chunduri, Mridula (29 September 2006). "Gandhigiri, a cool way to live". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 17 October 2012. Retrieved 29 September 2006.
8. Sharma, Swati Gauri (13 October 2006). "How Gandhi got his mojo back". boston.com. The New York Times Company. Archived from the original on 26 October 2006. Retrieved 13 October 2006.
9. Shaikh, Zeeshan (9 January 2008). "Real-life Munnabhai, in Nashik jail". Hindustan Times. Nashik. Archived from the original on 18 February 2016. Retrieved 14 February 2016. The 30-year-old once had 19 cases of assault and extortion against him. He now swears by non-violence. The transformation, much like the character of Sanjay Dutt in the blockbuster movie Lage Raho Munnabhai, is thanks to Mahatma Gandhi.

External links

• Murliprasad 'Munna Bhai' Sharma at Internet Movie Database