Yatin Karekar spoke about how he landed the memorable role of Anand Banerjee, popularly known as Anand Bhai, in Munna Bhai MBBS. Speaking about the casting process, the actor revealed that he was initially offered a completely different role and even turned it down before convincing director Rajkumar Hirani to cast him as the largely silent cancer patient.
“There are only three roles in your movie worth playing.”
Recalling his long association with Hirani, Yatin said that they knew each other from the director’s advertising days and had worked together in several ad and corporate films.One day, he received a call from Hirani’s office asking him to audition for a role. Yatin was surprised by the request, and remembered asking why he needed to take the test when the director already knew him so well.When he arrived, he was handed pages containing characters named Doctor 1, Doctor 2, Mona and Watchman.
Curious about the project, he tried to learn more about the story.As he gradually gathered details of the script from Hirani’s associates, he realized that the film was something special.“They offered me the role of one of the doctors training Munna before the exam. But after I understood the story, I said to Soma: ‘I don’t want to do this role.’ I handed over the papers,” he recalled during his interview with India Now and How.
Later, he met Hirani in the parking lot and explained his decision frankly.“He asked me why? You won’t work in my film?” I replied: There are only three roles in this movie that are worth doing for me. One I already gave to Sanjay Dutt. The second I gave
Boman Irani
. The third is Anand Bhai.”
“That’s exactly the challenge.”
According to Yatin, Hirani’s immediate response was that Anand bhai hardly had any dialogues. At the time, the character’s emotional monologue near the end of the film had not been written.But Yatin saw this as an opportunity.“I told Raju: This is exactly the challenge. You make me act without dialogues. This is your magic, and I want you to do this magic with me.”The director reportedly looked at him for a few moments before asking him to audition for the role.
Rajkumar Hirani personally attended only one audition
The actor revealed that the test itself was remarkably simple.“I just had to sit there. Do almost nothing. Just look. It was all about playing with the camera.”As he stared into the camera, tears naturally rolled down his face.The moment the tears appeared, Raju shouted: “Cut! Well, you play the role. But you are fat. Lose weight.”When Yatin asked how much weight he needed to lose, Hirani reportedly told him to lose eight to ten kilograms. The actor eventually lost 12 kilograms for this role.Later he discovered something even more surprising.“After that, I also found out that my audition was the only one that Rajkumar Hirani attended in person.”
The scene that Yatin thought would “drag” the film
Yatin also shared how Anand Bhai’s famous closing monologue came into being.While shooting in Pune, Hirani approached him one day and told him that he had written a new scene specially for Anand Bhai.He said: “At the end of the film, after the hero and heroine meet, Anand bhai will narrate a story.”Far from excited, Yatin was skeptical.“My immediate reaction was: Raju, the film will go on! The hero and heroine have already met. Why would anyone sit for another scene?”
“We give a voice to the unspoken”
The actor said that Hirani then explained the importance of the scene in one line.“If Anand bhai had not told that story, the audience would never have heard Anand bhai’s voice throughout the film,” he said.The logic clicked immediately.Then Raju himself answered the question before I could. “We give voice to the unspeakable,” he said.For Yatin, this line summed up the brilliance of Hirani’s storytelling and explained why Anand Bhai’s final speech became one of the most poignant moments in the film.“That one sentence said the whole purpose of the scene. That’s why that moment became so powerful. Anand bhai barely speaks throughout the film, but in the end, he finally has a voice – and through him, the film can express everything it wants to say,” he concluded.
