Shankar Dada M.B.B.S.

Shankar Dada M.B.B.S.
Directed by	Jayanth C. Paranjee
Produced by	Akkineni Ravi Shankara Prasad
Written by	Vidhu Vinod Chopra Rajkumar Hirani (story) Paruchuri Brothers (dialogues )
Starring	Chiranjeevi Sonali Bendre Paresh Rawal Srikanth Girish Karnad
Music by	Devi Sri Prasad
Cinematography	K. Dattu
Edited by	Marthand K. Venkatesh
Distributed by	Gemini Film Circuit
Release dates	15 October 2004 (2004-10-15)
Running time	174 minutes
Country	India
Language	Telugu
Budget	17 crore (US$2.7 million)

Shankar Dada M.B.B.S. is a 2004 Telugu film which is a remake of Hindi blockbuster Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.. The film was directed by Jayanth C. Paranjee starring Chiranjeevi, Srikanth, Sonali Bendre, Paresh Rawal and Girish Karnad. The film is one of the most highly anticipated and one of the biggest block busters in 2004. Chiranjeevi and Srikanth won the Filmfare Best Actor and Filmfare Best Supporting Actor awards respectively. The film was followed by a 2007 sequel, Shankar Dada Zindabad. It is an adaptation of the Bollywood film Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.

Plot

Shankar Prasad, nicknamed "Shankar Dada" (literally "Brother Shankar") is a bhai or gunda: a crime don in Hyderabad. Given that his father had wished him to be a medical doctor, he creates the faux Sri Satya Prasad Charitable Hospital (named after his father) and pretends to live in accordance with this wish whenever his father (Girish Karnad) and mother (Venniradai Nirmala) visit him in Hyderabad.

One year, however, Shankar's plan goes awry when his father meets an old acquaintance, Dr. Ramalingeswara Rao (Paresh Rawal) and the two older men decide to marry Shankar to Ramalingeswara Rao's daughter, Dr. Sunitha "Chitti" (Sonali Bendre). At this point the truth about Shankar is revealed. Ramalingeswara Rao insults Shankar's parents and calls them "fools" for being ignorant of Shankar's real life. Shankar's father and mother, aghast and later heartbroken, leave for their village. Shankar, in grief and despair, decides that the only way to redeem himself and to gain revenge for the humiliation suffered by his father at the hands of the spiteful Ramalingeswara Rao is to become a doctor. He decides to go to a medical college to obtain an M.B.B.S. degree, the graduate medical degree in South Asia.

With the help of his right-hand man A.T.M. (Srikanth) and others, Shankar "gains admission" to the Osmania College of Medical Sciences, where he again encounters Dr. Ramalingeswara Rao, who is the dean. His success there becomes dependent upon the (coerced) help of faculty member Dr. Mohammad Rafi (Surya). While Shankar Dada's skills as a medical doctor are minimal, he transforms those around him with the "Jantar Mantar" (Heartful Hug) — a method of comfort taught to Shankar 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, Shankar constantly seeks to impose a more empathetic, almost holistic, regimen. To this end, he defies all convention by treating a brain-dead child called "Sriram" (Vaishnav Tej) as if the kid were able to perceive and understand normally; interacts on familiar but autocratic terms with patients; humiliates school bullies; effusively thanks a hitherto-underappreciated janitor; and encourages the patients themselves to make changes in their lives, so that they do not need drugs or surgery.

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

Eventually, Shankar is shamed into leaving the college: His guilt for not being able to help a dying friend gets the better of him. In the moments immediately following Shankar's departure, Sriram miraculously awakens from his vegetative state; at this point Sunitha gives a heartfelt speech wherein she criticizes her father for having banished Shankar, saying that to do so is to banish hope, compassion, love, and happiness, etc. from the college. Ramalingeswara Rao eventually realizes his folly. Shankar later marries Dr. Sunitha, learning for the first time that she is "Chitti". Finally his parents Reconcile and now, Shankar Prasad is Shankar Dada M.B.B.S..

Cast

Sonali Bendre was selected as lead heroine marking her second collaboration with Chiranjeevi.

Crew

Soundtrack

The audio function of the film turned out to be a sensational fare in spite of the change of venue at the last hour. The audio of Shankar Dada M.B.B.S. is expected to be held at Taramati - Baradri in Golkonda. Taramati - Baradri is the place where all musical related events used to be held during Nizam's rule few centuries back. The sound generated at Taramati - Baradri used to be audible to the entire fort of Golkonda because of its strategic location. The producers of Shankar Dada M.B.B.S. obtained special permission to hold this event at such an historical venue. But rain played the spoilt sport and it rained cats and dogs for 3-4 continuous hours in Hyderabad. The organizers changed the venue to Shilpakalavedika, Madapur.

The celebrities who graced this occasion include K Raghavendra Rao, D Rama Naidu, C Aswini Dutt, KL Narayana, KS Rama Rao, Allu Arvind, Vijaya Bapineedu, Shyam Prasad Reddy, C Kalyan, KC Sekhara Babu, Tagore Madhu, Dil Raju, Ashok Kumar, Chanti Affala, Arjuna Raju, Burugapally Sivarama Krishna, VV Vinayak, Seenu Vytla, Satya Murthy, Allu Arjun, Ali, Rohit etc. Raghu Kunche and Bhargavi anchored this event.^[1]

Later after the completion of 50 Days, 2 songs Sande Poddu (Performed by Shankar Mahadevan & Kalpana, written by Sahithi) and Tellarindo Maava (Performed & written by Devi Sri Prasad) were added to the Official tracklist and The Audio was Re-Released. Both Versions were Well Received.

Awards

Filmfare Awards

References

External links

• Shankar Dada M.B.B.S. at the Internet Movie Database