Vidhu Vinod Chopra opened up recently about Munna Bhai MBBS (2003) and said that no one outside Mumbai bought the film as they felt it won’t work even for a day. Vidhu, who served as the producer on the film, also said that the Sanjay Dutt and Arshad Warsi starrer made him rich.

In an interview with Indian Express, Vidhu said, “Munna Bhai MBBS opened to empty theatres. Munna Bhai MBBS is the movie that made me rich, but that’s because nobody bought that film outside of Mumbai. I had a distributor in South of India, who had brought Munna Bhai for Rs 11 lakh.”

He added, “Those days, they used to take delivery. So, he came to take delivery four days before the film’s release. When he saw the film, he said, ‘Sir, this film won’t work even for a day. Nobody outside of Mumbai would get the language of Munna Bhai’”.

Eventually, Vidhu managed to get one morning show in Chennai at 11 am. “I sold my print there for Rs 5 lakh. My final business from that one centre was in Rs 1 crore plus,” he said.

Vidhu said that no one went to watch the film on the first day. “But when you do good work, (it’ll pay). Which is where I’m anti-marketing. Not anti-marketing, but I don’t really care about marketing because people will discover."

Munna Bhai MBBS told the story of a local Mumbai gangster who desires to become a doctor and enrols himself in a medical college. It was directed by Rajkumar Hirani. A sequel, Lage Raho Munna Bhai was released in 2006 with a different storyline.

Vidhu's last directorial was the Vikrant Massey starrer 12th Fail, which went on become a success at the box-office in 2023.