Murli Prasad Sharma, nicknamed "Munna Bhai" [literally "Brother Munna"] is a bhai or Gunda; a crime don in the Mumbai underworld. Given that his father had wished him to be a medical doctor, he creates the faux Sri Hari Prasad Sharma Charitable Hospital [named after his father] and pretends to live in accordance with this wish whenever his father [Sunil Dutt] and mother [Rohini Hattangadi] visit him in Mumbai. One year, however, Munnas plan goes awry when his father meets an old acquaintance, Dr. Asthana [Boman Irani] and the two older men decide to marry Munna to Dr. Asthanas daughter, Dr. "Chinki" Suman [Gracy Singh]. It is at this point that the truth about Munna is revealed. Dr. Asthana insults Munnas parents and calls them "fools" for being ignorant of Munnas real life. Munnas father and mother, aghast and later heartbroken, leave for their village. Munna, 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 Dr. Ashthana is to become a doctor in fact. He therefore decides to go to a Medical College in order to obtain an M.B.B.S. degree; the graduate medical degree in South Asia. With the help of his right-hand man Circuit and others, Munna "gains admission" to the Imperial Institute of Medical Sciences, where he again encounters Dr. Asthana, who is the dean of the medical school. His success there becomes dependent upon the [coerced] help of a faculty Dr. Rustam Pavri [Kurush Deboo]. While Munna Bhais skills as a medical doctor are minimal, he transforms those around him with the "Jadoo Ki Jhappi" ["magical hug"] — a method of comfort taught to Munna by his mother — and the compassion he shows towards those in need. Despite the schools emphasis on mechanical, Cartesian, impersonal, often bureaucratic relationships between doctors and patients, Munna constantly seeks to impose a more empathetic, almost holistic regimen. To this end, he defies all convention by treating a brain-dead man called "Anand bhai" as if the man 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. Asthana, who perceives all this as symptoms of chaos, is unable to prevent it from expanding and gaining ground at his college. He therefore becomes increasingly irrational, almost to the point of insanity. Repeatedly, this near-dementia is shown in a scene wherein he has just received unwelcome tidings, at the revelation of which 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 in that Dr. Asthanas laughing serves rather to convey his anger than diffuse it. Meanwhile, his daughter becomes increasingly fond of Munna, who in his turn becomes unreservedly infatuated with her. Some comedy appears here, because Munna is unaware that Dr. Suman and his childhood friend "Chinki" are one and the same; an ignorance that Dr. Suman hilariously exploits. Dr. Asthana tries several times to expel Munna, but is often thwarted by Munnas wit or the affection with which the others at the College regard Munna, having gained superior self-esteem by his methods. Eventually, Munna is shamed into leaving the College, his guilt for not being able to help a dying friend getting the better of him. In the moments immediately following Munnas departure, Anand miraculously awakens from his vegetative state; at this point Dr. Suman gives a heartfelt speech wherein she criticizes her father for having banished Munna, saying that to do so is to banish hope, compassion, love, and happiness etc. from the College. Dr. Asthana eventually realizes his folly. Munna later marries Dr. Suman, learning for the first time that she is "Chinki". Subsequently the Medical College - under Rustam Pavris management since the retirement of Dr. Asthana - begins to imitate Munnas radical methods of treatment. Munna and Dr. Suman open a hospital in Munnas home village, where they implement Munnas ideas daily. This, in addition to the birth of their offspring, earns Munna the nickname "Munnabhai - M.B.B.S. - Miya Biwi Bachhon Samet" [literally "Husband Wife with Children"]. Munnas parents reconcile with him. His sidekick Circuit marries and has a son, who is nicknamed "Short Circuit" as a pun both on his fathers alias and on the process by which an electrical device fails. As the film concluded, we see Anand, restored to normal mental health, narrating the story to children.

Awards

Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. was the recipient of a number of awards. At the 2004 Filmfare awards, it received the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Movie, the Filmfare Best Screenplay Award, the Filmfare Best Dialogue Award, and the Filmfare Best Comedian Award in addition to four other nominations. It also won a number of awards at the 2004 Zee Cine Awards including Best Debuting Director, Zee Cine Award for Best Actor in a Comic Role, Best Cinematography, and Best Dialogue. Other ceremonies include the 2004 National Film Awards where it won the National Film Award for Best Popular Film and the 2004 International Indian Film Academy Awards where it won the IIFA Best Comedian Award.