Rajkumar Hirani’s OTT debut to feature Vikrant Massey

Filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani says he is thrilled to foray into the streaming space with a series that will feature 12th Fail star Vikrant Massey.

The 61-year-old director, who just directed Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Dunki, said the show will be available on Disney+Hotstar.

"I'm doing an OTT show, which we actually start shooting this month. I'm a showrunner for that, I'm not directing it. It's a show for Hotstar (Disney+ Hotstar) and Vikrant Massey is playing a role in it,” he told PTI.

"It's something I'm very happy about with the script and the way it has panned out. On this show, I'm really involved and it's in my own space,” he added.

Rajkumar, known for his slice-of-life movies such as the Munnabhai series, 3 Idiots, PK and the biopic Sanju, also has a couple of feature ideas that he wants to develop next.

"Luckily, COVID-19 gave us the time to sit at home and work on more scripts. I'm working on more scripts now in a month or so and we'll start deciding where we will go,” he said.

Before he made 3 Idiots, Rajkumar was to direct the third part in the Munnabhai series, which even had a title and a teaser but he did not go ahead with it.

Asked whether the third installment is still a possibility, he said it has been on his mind for a while now but he does not want to direct it without a great story and just to capitalise on the popularity of his first two movies, Munnabhai MBBS in 2003 and Lage Raho Munnabhai in 2006, starring Sanjay Dutt and Arshad Warsi as an affable goon and his sidekick.

"It's not that I don't want to do it, 100 per cent I want to do it because I had fun making those films. After every film, I've tried to write one Munnabhai. So, I have five unfinished Munna Bhai scripts lying with me with various titles such as Munna Bhai Chale America, Munna Bhai BA LLB and Munna Bhai Chal Basse.

"There are many scripts written but none of them reached that level of greatness. I know that any Munnabhai that I make will make a huge amount of money now. But I don't want to make it for that reason," Rajkumar said.

The filmmaker said he has a lot of gratitude because his first film continues to be in the public consciousness 20 years after its release.

"I just feel gratitude towards life because nobody thought that films that were made 20 years ago would still be talked about, the lingo, the dialogues will still be in the psyche of this generation and you will still see memes," he said.

"I shot an ad with Sanju and Arshad recently where they are playing Munna and Circuit, and an ad film is made on a film that's 20 years old with these characters. The reason I did that ad was to work with them. It's genuinely fun to be working with Arshad and Sanju on the sets, and I hope I can do it someday (again)," said the director.

Released on December 21, Dunki has earned over Rs 409 crore globally since its release. The movie also stars Boman Irani, Taapsee Pannu, Vicky Kaushal, Vikram Kochhar, and Anil Grover, among others.