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. It revolves around a gangster enrolling in a medical college and defying its norms, while the dean seeks to remove him. The film was released on 14 August 2004 and became a success.
Plot Rajaraman, nicknamed "Vasool Raja," is a local don in Chennai who makes a living by extorting money from people with the help of his right-hand man, Vatti. Given that his father, Sriman Venkataraman, had wished for him to be a doctor, he creates the faux Venkataraman Charitable Hospital, and pretends to live in accordance with this wish. 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." 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 decides that the only way to redeem himself and gain revenge for the humiliation suffered by his father is to become a real doctor. He goes to a medical college to obtain an MBBS degree. With the help of Vatti and others, Raja gains admission to the SLR Institute of Medical Sciences. Upon admission, he again encounters Vishwanathan, who is the college dean. His success there becomes dependent upon the coerced help of Margabandhu, a faculty member of the college. 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. Despite the school's emphasis on mechanical, impersonal, and often bureaucratic relationships between doctors and patients, Raja constantly seeks to impose a more empathetic regimen. To this end, he defies all convention by treating a brain-dead man Anand as if the man were able to perceive and understand normally. 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. Meanwhile, Janaki becomes increasingly fond of Raja, who, in his turn, becomes unreservedly infatuated with her. Vishwanathan tries several times to expel Raja, but is often outsmarted by him. 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 a carrom board to come to the hospital. Raja and his gang play carrom, and Margabandhu's father miraculously wakes up and walks to the board. Raja and Margabandhu's father play against each other, and Margabandhu's father wins the match and celebrates. 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. Vishwanathan promises to retain Raja if he answers all questions asked by the doctors in front of the entire university, a challenge Raja accepts. Despite preparing well, he is unable to focus as patient Zakir's condition becomes worse and he 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. Raja is unable to answer and is shamed into leaving the college. He confesses the truth to everyone. Everyone except Vishwanathan is moved to tears by his speech. Immediately following Raja's departure, Anand miraculously awakens from his vegetative state; Janaki criticises her father for having banished Raja. Vishwanathan eventually realises his folly. Raja later marries Janaki while also reconciling with his parents.
Cast
Production
Development 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. To commence the film within 15 days, Saran assigned his usual crew consisting of music composer Bharadwaj and cinematographer A. Venkatesh. Suresh Urs worked as editor while Mohana Mahendra was chosen to handle art. The film was initially titled Market Raja MBBS which Saran later used as the title for his 2019 film. It was dialogue writer Crazy Mohan who suggested the title Vasool Raja MBBS. 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).
Casting Jyothika was initially approached to be the lead actress but her other commitments meant that the team sought and consequently signed on Sneha. Prakash Raj asked Saran if he could play the college dean, and was immediately cast. Saran initially thought of casting Karunas in the role of Vatti, later played by Prabhu, but later created a new character for Karunas. Saran had hoped to sign on director K. Balachander to play Haasan's father, with the veteran director being both Haasan's and Saran's film industry mentor. However Balachandar was reluctant to act, and the team then considered K. Viswanath and Girish Karnad for the role, before signing Nagesh. Yatin Karyekar and Rohini Hattangadi, who were part of the Hindi original, reprised their roles. Dhanush initially agreed to play the cancer patient but opted out citing a busy schedule, and was replaced by Malayalam actor Jayasurya, which also marked the latter's second Tamil film after En Mana Vaanil (2002). Crazy Mohan, besides writing the dialogues, also played a college professor.
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