Why did Rajkumar Hirani switch from Gandhigiri to Sanjugiri? Like many of his fans, I am completely puzzled. Of course, he has given interviews explaining the reasons. And his protagonist Sanjay Dutt's life is a dream masala script — he has been a drug addict, womaniser, and sentenced to jail for five years for possession of a Dawood Ibrahim gang-supplied AK56 rifle, and his connection to the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts case. But yes, yes, yes, as the film repeatedly reminds us, he was exonerated from charges of being a terrorist. And yes, Ranbir Kapoor is brilliant.

As a Bollywood filmmaker, Hirani is at the top of his game. All his films have turned to gold — Munnabhai MBBS, Lage Raho Munna Bhai, 3 Idiots and PK — in which he promoted Gandhigiri, and daringly took on the medical and education systems, corruption and religious frauds, and became the darling of the masses. He has had a long and rewarding partnership with screenwriter Abhijat Joshi and producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra. So, why did Hirani — a good guy by every account — who lionised Gandhi in one film — lionise a living actor-criminal, in his next? He must have had a pile of good script ideas. Besides, an "approved script" is bound to be dangerously PR-ey. Sanjay Dutt even dances in the film on himself. Kaiku, kaiku? I don't have any answers. As this film has made pots of money, it also shows where the public sympathy lies.