Sanju
Sanju is a 2018 Indian Hindi-language biogrophical comedy drama film directed by Rajkumar Hirani and written by Hirani and Abhijat Joshi. It was jointly produced by Hirani and Vidhu Vinod Chopra under the banners Rajkumar Hirani Films and Vinod Chopra Films respectively. The film follows the life of Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, his addiction with drugs, arrest for his association with the 1993 Bombay bombings, relationship with his father, comeback in the industry, the eventual drop of charges from the Bombay bombings, and release after completing his jail term. Ranbir Kapoor stars as the title character, along with an ensemble cast which features Anushka Sharma, Vicky Kaushal, Manisha Koirala, Dia Mirza, Sonam K Ahuja, Paresh Rawal and Jim Sarbh.
In a conversation with Hirani, Dutt shared anecdotes from his life, which the former found intriguing and prompted him to make a film based on Dutt’s life. It was titled Sanju after the nickname Dutt’s mother Nargis used to call him. Principal photography began in January 2017 and the shoot wrapped up in January 2018. The film’s soundtrack was composed by Rohan-Rohan and Vikram Montrose, with A. R. Rahman as a guest composer. Fox Star Studios acquired the distribution rights of the film.
Sanju was released worldwide on 29 June 2018. It received positive reviews from critics, who praised Kapoor’s performance as well as Hirani’s direction; some criticized its supposed image-cleansing of its protagonist. It registered the highest opening for any film released in India in 2018, and on its third day, it had the highest single-day collection ever for a Hindi film in India. With a worldwide gross of over ₹700 crore (US$93 million), Sanju emerged as the highest grossing Bollywood film of 2018, the second highest-earning Hindi film in India of all time, and one of the highest-grossing Indian films. It earned seven nominations at the 64th Filmfare Awards including Best Film and Best Director for Hirani. It won Best Actor for Kapoor and Best Supporting Actor for Kaushal.
