Vasool Raja MBBS
Directed bySaran
Screenplay byCrazy Mohan (dialogues)
Story byRajkumar Hirani
Based onMunna Bhai M.B.B.S. (Hindi)
StarringKamal Haasan
Prabhu
Sneha
Prakash Raj
CinematographyA. Venkatesh
Edited bySuresh Urs
Music byBharadwaj
Production
company
Distributed byRaaj Kamal Films International
Release date
  • 15 August 2004 (2004-08-15)
Running time
148 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

Vasool Raja MBBS (transl. Collection King MBBS) is a 2004 Indian Tamil-language comedy drama film directed by Saran. It is a remake of the 2003 Hindi film Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.. The film stars Kamal Haasan in the title role, while Prabhu, Sneha, Prakash Raj, Nagesh, Rohini Hattangadi, Jayasurya, Malavika, Crazy Mohan, Lakshmi Bhaskaran and Karunas play supporting roles.[1][2] It was released on 15 August 2004.

Plot

Rajaraman, nicknamed "Vasool Raja", is a local don in Chennai who makes a living by collecting money from people who refuse or dilly-dally in paying their debts to others (adithadi), with the help of his right-hand man Vatti. Given that his father Sriman Venkataraman had wished him to be a doctor, he creates the faux Venkataraman Charitable Hospital, and pretends to live in accordance with this wish whenever his father and mother Kasturi visit him in Chennai.

One year later, Raja's plan goes awry when Venkataraman meets an old acquaintance, Dr. Vishwanathan. The two men decide to get Raja married to Vishwanathan's daughter Dr. Janaki aka "Paapu", who was a childhood friend of Raja under that name. At this point, the truth about Raja is revealed. Vishwanathan insults Raja's parents and ridicules them for being ignorant of Raja's real life. Venkataraman and Kasturi, who are both aghast and heartbroken, disown Raja and leave for their village.

Raja, in grief and despair, decides that the only way to redeem himself and gain revenge for the humiliation suffered by his father at the hands of the spiteful Vishwanathan is to become a doctor. He goes to a medical college to obtain an MBBS degree, the graduate medical degree in South Asia.

With the help of Vatti and others, Raja gains admission to the SLR Institute of Medical Sciences by threatening Margabandhu, a faculty member of the college, as well as Margabandhu's father. Upon admission, he again encounters Vishwanathan, who is the college dean. His success there becomes dependent upon the coerced help of Margabandhu. Margabandhu is initially hostile to Raja but does not reveal the truth to the dean. While Raja's skills as a medical doctor are minimal, he transforms those around him with the "Kattipudi Vaithiyam" ("hugging therapy"), a method of comfort taught to Raja by his mother, and the compassion he shows towards those in need. Despite the school's emphasis on mechanical, Cartesian, impersonal, often bureaucratic relationships between doctors and patients, Raja constantly seeks to impose a more empathetic, almost holistic, regimen. To this end, he defies all convention by treating a brain-dead man as if the man were able to perceive and understand normally; intimidating Dr. Kalidas into admitting and treating a suicide patient; interacting on familiar but autocratic terms with patients; humiliating school bullies; effusively thanking a hitherto-underappreciated cleaner; helping a terminally ill cancer patient named Zakir; and encouraging the patients themselves to make changes in their lives so that they do not need pharmaceuticals or surgery.

Vishwanathan, who perceives all this as symptoms of chaos, is unable to prevent it from expanding and gaining ground at his college. He becomes increasingly irritable, almost to the point of insanity. Repeatedly, this near-dementia is shown when he receives unwelcome tidings and begins laughing in a way that implies that he has gone mad. This behaviour is explained early on as an attempt to practice laughter therapy, an attempt that seems to have backfired. Vishwanathan's laughing serves more to convey his anger than diffuse it. Meanwhile, Janaki becomes increasingly fond of Raja, who, in his turn, becomes unreservedly infatuated with her. Some comedy appears here because Raja is unaware that Janaki and his childhood friend "Paapu" are one and the same; an ignorance that Janaki hilariously exploits. Vishwanathan tries several times to expel Raja, but is often outsmarted by Raja's wit or the affection with which the others at the college regard Raja, having gained superior self-esteem by his methods. In a final attempt, Raja is almost expelled but he injures himself and multiple bones to prevent himself from being expelled.

Margabandhu's senile father is admitted to the hospital and all hope seems lost for him. Having threatened Margabandhu before, Raja's gang knows that he is a passionate board game player and Raja orders for a carrom board to come to hospital. One late night, Raja and his gang play carrom and chat and Margabandhu's father miraculously wakes up and walks to the board, to the shock of the nurses, doctors, and Margabandhu. Raja and Margabandhu's father play against each other and Margabandhu's father wins the match and celebrates. Upon witnessing this, Margabandhu is extremely touched by Raja's gesture and tearfully thanks him for saving his father, dropping his hostility towards Raja and his gang.

Upon recovery, Vishwanathan orders Raja to leave and brings police to throw him out, but everyone in the college protests and blocks the way. Vishwanathan tells the students the truth about Raja, but no one believes him and upon questioning the staff, Margabandhu denies any of Vishwanathan's allegations and claims that Raja is innocent. Infuriated, Vishwanathan challenges Raja to answer all questions asked by the doctors in front of the entire university and Raja accepts. Despite preparing well and getting help from Margabandhu and supporting staff, Raja is unable to focus as Zakir's condition becomes worse and Zakir dies in Raja's hands.

The next morning, Raja starts answering the questions well, but Vishwanathan stops the staff and says he will ask all the forthcoming questions, shocking everyone. Raja is unable to answer and is shamed into leaving the college. He confesses the truth to everyone and breaks down about his guilt to Zakir, his parents, and everyone he cared for. Everyone, except Vishwanathan (who smiles maliciously throughout the speech), are moved to tears by his speech. In the moments immediately following Raja's departure, the brain-dead man miraculously awakens from his vegetative state; at this point, Janaki gives a heartfelt speech wherein she criticises her father for having banished Raja, saying that to do so is to banish hope, compassion, love, happiness, etc. from the college. Vishwanathan eventually realises his folly.

Raja later marries Janaki, learning for the first time that she is "Paapu", while also reconciling with his parents, who appreciate him for the first time in many years.

Cast

Production

Manohar Prasad of Gemini Film Circuit bought the remake rights of Munna Bhai MBBS to make it in Tamil and assigned Saran as director with Kamal Haasan in lead. Saran who was making Attahasam at that time was assigned to commence the film within 15 days and to complete and release the film within three months after consulting Ajith Kumar who gave permission to do this film.[5] To commence the film within 15 days, Saran assigned his usual crew consisting of music composer Bharadwaj and cinematographer A. Venkatesh.[5]

The film was initially titled Market Raja MBBS which Saran later used as a title for his 2019 film.[6][7] It was Crazy Mohan who suggested the title Vasool Raja MBBS.[5] The project began as a bilingual venture in Tamil and Telugu, though later the Telugu version was made separately with a different cast as Shankar Dada M.B.B.S. (2004).[8]

Jyothika was initially approached to play the leading female role but her busy in another film meant that the team sought and consequently signed on actress Sneha for the film.[5] Prabhu was cast in a supporting role at the insistence of Kamal Haasan, despite Saran's desire to cast Kalabhavan Mani.[9] Saran also thought of casting Karunas initially for Prabhu's character but later created a new character for him.[5]

Saran had hoped to sign on director K. Balachander to play Kamal Haasan's father in the film, with the veteran director being both Kamal Haasan's and Saran's film industry mentor. However Balachandar was reluctant to act, and the team then considered both K. Viswanath and Girish Karnad for the role, before signing Nagesh.[10][11] Yatin Karyekar and Rohini Hattangadi, who were part of the Hindi original, reprised their roles.[5] Dhanush initially agreed to play the cancer patient but opted out citing a busy schedule and was replaced by Jayasurya.[12][13]

Saran observed Prakash Raj using hand gestures a lot while emoting so in order to capitalise on that, he created a "back and forth scene" focusing on their actions and was shot using closeup lenses.[11] The film's producers after watching the copy of the film were dissatisfied with the film as they felt director did not remain faithful to the original material but Saran convinced them this version will be responded well by audiences.[5]

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by Bharadwaj. All songs were penned by Vairamuthu.[14] Two songs were shot in Switzerland.[15] Mohan Thambirajah of New Straits Times rated it 3.5 out of 5 and wrote, "Bharadwaj comes up with great compositions in this outing".[16] The audio launch was held in July 2004.[17]

Track listing
No.TitleSinger(s)Length
1."Kalakapovathu Yaaru"Kamal Haasan, Sathyan, VNB4:37
2."Pathukulle Number"KK, Shreya Ghoshal5:19
3."Alwarpetai Aaluda"Kamal Haasan, VNB5:13
4."Sakalakala Doctor"Bharadwaj, Arjun, Donan4:31
5."Kaddu Thirande Kidakinrathu"Hariharan, Sadhana Sargam4:14
6."Cheena Thana (Siruchi)"Grace Karunas4:38
Total length:28:62

Reception

Shobha Warrier of Rediff.com wrote, "Vasool Raja is Kamal's show all the way. He does comedy, dances wonderfully, sings, and also does some great stunts. What more can people ask for by way of entertainment?".[18] Visual Dasan of Kalki wrote that the Kamal Haasan-Charan combo got a doctorate in laughing medicine for Tamil fans who were left irritated with masala films.[19] However Malini Mannath of Chennai Online gave a negative review, citing "Munnabhai...' was a laugh-riot, 'Vasoolraja...' hardly tickles!."[4] K. N. Vijiyan of New Straits Times wrote, "Vasoolraja MBBS (King of Revenue) should live up to its name".[20]

Box office

Made on a budget of ₹5.5 crore, Vasool Raja MBBS was sold for ₹1 crore in Coimbatore distribution territory with 20 prints.[21] The film was shown on about 285 screens worldwide to highly positive reception and box-office success.[22] Tabloid reported 10 million tickets were sold worldwide.[23]

Controversy

The film's release faced a roadblock as a petition filed by the then Tamil Nadu Medical Council president K. R. Balasubramanian stated that the film's title ridiculed the medical profession and tarnished the image of the medical fraternity.[24][25] The Madras High Court later cleared the film's release without the title changed.[26]

References

  1. ↑ "Munnabhai MBBS in Tamil". IndiaGlitz. 20 April 2004. Archived from the original on 23 October 2012. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
  2. ↑ "Kamal in remake of 'Munnabhai MBBS'". IndiaGlitz. 29 May 2009. Archived from the original on 23 October 2012. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
  3. 1 2 Ramanujam, Srinivasa (10 June 2020). "Crazy Mohan could laugh, and make us laugh: Prakash Raj on the first death anniversary of the iconic comedian". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 3 July 2020. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  4. 1 2 Mannath, Malini (23 August 2004). "Vasoolraja M. B. B. S." Chennai Online. Archived from the original on 16 October 2006. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ""அஜித் ஓகே சொல்லலைனா 'வசூல் ராஜா' படமே எடுத்திருக்க முடியாது!"- இயக்குநர் சரண் #16YearsofVasoolRaja". Ananda Vikatan (in Tamil). 18 August 2020. Archived from the original on 30 September 2020. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  6. ↑ Suganth, M (4 January 2019). "Saran gets Arav and keeps his title 'Market Raja MBBS'". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 11 January 2021. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  7. ↑ Jha, Subhash K (27 April 2004). "Munnabhai in Tamil". Mid-Day. Archived from the original on 28 February 2005. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  8. ↑ RR (29 May 2004). "Bharadwaj's first for Kamal". Chennai Online. Archived from the original on 15 October 2006. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  9. ↑ "Vasool Raja : Underwent many replacements". Behindwoods. Archived from the original on 27 August 2004. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  10. ↑ Rasika (11 June 2004). "In search of a father". Chennai Online. Archived from the original on 20 June 2004. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
  11. 1 2 Rajendran, Gopinath (12 September 2018). "Vasool Raja MBBS: A fine balance". The New Indian Express. Archived from the original on 17 January 2023. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
  12. ↑ "Dhanush to act in Kamal's film". IndiaGlitz. 25 May 2004. Archived from the original on 22 February 2018. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  13. ↑ "Jaisurya in Vasool Raja". IndiaGlitz. 22 June 2004. Archived from the original on 26 June 2022. Retrieved 26 June 2022.
  14. ↑ "Vasool Raja Mbbs (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)". Apple Music. Archived from the original on 25 January 2023. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
  15. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20040815235745/http://sify.com/movies/tamil/fullstory.php?id=13535741
  16. ↑ Thambirajah, Mohan (19 August 2004). "Energetic hip-hop". New Straits Times. p. 27. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  17. ↑ Ashok Kumar, S.R. (17 July 2004). "Successes in August". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 6 June 2022. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
  18. ↑ Warrier, Shobha (30 August 2004). "Vasool Raja is Kamal's show all the way". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 15 October 2018. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
  19. ↑ தாசன், விஷுவல் (22 August 2004). "வசூல் ராஜா MBBS". Kalki (in Tamil). p. 12. Archived from the original on 25 January 2023. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
  20. ↑ Vijiyan, K.N. (23 August 2004). "Another comic turn by Kamalhaasan". New Straits Times. p. 27. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  21. ↑ "'Chandramukhi' —First sale!". Sify. 20 November 2004. Archived from the original on 26 October 2014. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
  22. ↑ Gopalan, Krishna (29 July 2007). "The boss, no doubt". Business Today. Archived from the original on 10 July 2012. Retrieved 25 October 2014.
  23. ↑ Jeshi, K. (27 September 2004). "No stopping him". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 20 February 2012. Retrieved 25 January 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  24. ↑ "HC stays release of 'Vasoolraja, MBBS'". IndiaGlitz. 27 July 2004. Archived from the original on 23 October 2012. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  25. ↑ "Tamil Nadu Medical Council vs The Chairman on 6 August, 2004". indiankanoon.org. Archived from the original on 25 January 2023. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
  26. ↑ "'Vasoolraja' will have 'MBBS'". Nowrunning. IANS. 8 August 2004. Archived from the original on 25 January 2023. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
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