Hollywood wants Munna Bhai

Circa 2003, Vidhu Vinod Chopra's film about a goon and his sidekick hit the theatres and became an overnight success. Munna Bhai MBBS, directed by Rajkumar Hirani became a cult by itself. Never before, in Hindi cinema was a goon so loved by the masses.

In fact, when three years later, Lage Raho Munna Bhai released, audiences received their favourite goon with a lot of love, yet again. But none of this probably could've prepared Vidhu Vinod Chopra for the offer he recently received.

The filmmaker and his production house were offered a whopping sum of Rs 500 crore for the rights to the Munna Bhai franchise. An international production house wanted to buy the successful film title.

A source informed Mumbai Mirror, "An international film production house offered Vidhu Vinod Chopra Rs 500 crore for the Munna Bhai franchise. This includes the rights to produce Munna Bhai films, Munna Bhai merchandise and also the rights to publish Munna Bhai comics in the future."

According to the source, the international corporation conducted a survey in the Indian film industry, where Munna Bhai emerged as the most recalled movie franchise. "In fact, the third part of the film is one of the most eagerly awaited films even though the script has not been finalised yet. Needless to say, the production house wanted to buy the rights to the franchise. However, Vidhu Vinod Chopra refused to part with it," added the source.

When contacted Sameer Rao, CEO of Vinod Chopra Films confirmed receiving the offer and added, "We all know that Munna Bhai is something very precious. And thus, we have politely declined the offer. It's something that belongs to its creators, Rajkumar Hirani and Vinod Chopra Films.  We realise that Munna Bhai is a big brand but it wasn't created for marketing purposes".

Refusing to part with the name of the production house that offered to buy the franchise, Rao added, "We have signed a non-disclosure agreement and we are not allowed to reveal the name of the production house."