Sanju: Rajkumar Hirani responds to Salman Khan's comment that Sanjay Dutt should play himself in the biopic

Ahead of the release of the Sanjay Dutt biopic  Sanju  on 29 June, the buzz around the film is soaring high. The  trailer  of the film was met with very positive reviews, especially for Ranbir Kapoor who metamorphosed himself into Dutt — in looks as well as in spirit. Also read: Ranbir Kapoor on Sanju: Not a propaganda film but an honest portrayal of a flawed human being [caption id=“attachment_4617111” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Ranbir Kapoor in and as Sanju. YouTube screengrab[/caption] However, Bollywood superstar Salman Khan had said that Dutt himself should have done the role, especially the last 7-8 years of his life, in the biopic, as “no one can do it better than him”. Director Rajkumar Hirani has now reportedly responded to this opinion of Khan’s. According to a  report  by the Times of India, Hirani revealed that even he had initially thought of Dutt playing his older self in the film’s final portions, but later discarded the idea. He felt the audience would be disconnected seeing Kapoor in the first half and then Dutt in the latter. Ranbir Kapoor had also responded to Khan’s opinion regarding the same. During promotions of Sanju, when the actor was asked about this, he had  said , “It has never happened that a person played himself in his own biopic. This destroys the effect of a character.” He added that whether people see him as the 40-year-old Dutt or as the 20-year old, they should feel that they are watching an artist who is playing Sanjay Dutt. Sanju also stars Paresh Rawal, Manisha Koirala, Sonam Kapoor, Anushka Sharma, Vicky Kaushal, Karishma Tanna in pivotal parts.