New Delhi: Actress Priya Bapat, who was seen in Rajkumar Hirani's big hit Munna Bhai MBBS and later also in Lage Raho Munna Bhai, recently opened up on how she got the part and what it meant to her at that time. She played a medical student studying in the same college as Munna aka Sanjay Dutt. In an interview with Bollywood Hungama, she also shared about her life in a chawl. 


WHO IS PRIYA BAPAT?


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Priya Bapat said, "I have spent almost 25 years of my life in that chawl. Till I got married I stayed there. From celebrating Diwali together to playing games with my friends during childhood days, this chawl has given me a lot of memories."


"The speciality of this chawl was, all the houses on a floor were connected to each other internally through doors. So it was easily possible to go from one house to another without getting out of the house. This system kept all the families on the floor connected to each other. Also, I feel that nowadays, the apartment system has created distance between people."


Talking about her role and Munna Bhai's experience, she revealed, "I went to Rajkumar Hirani’s office. I auditioned and I got the part. That simple. I was so naïve that I didn’t even realize what project I am a part of. I didn’t realize the scale of the project. I didn’t realize, ‘Oh this is Sanjay Dutt, oh this is Rajkumar Hirani.’ Nothing. I realized the grandeur of that film when I went for the premier. Even when I watched the film, I was like, ‘Okay, maza aaya, okay, okay."


Meanwhile, in the second part 'Lage Raho Munna Bhai', Priya played the girl who is about to meet a prospective groom in a restaurant. 


STAR-STRUCK ON MUNNA BHAI SETS...


About having felt star-struck, she added, "I don’t remember having any memory of being in awe of these people or feeling something different. I was like, I am given the lines, the teacher has asked me to recite them, so I should just memorize them and say and that’s it. Sometimes it’s the beauty of that time that you don’t give it that extra importance and you just live that moment. So, the work happens. You don’t act, it just happens. So, I think Munna Bhai M.B.B.S and that performance just happened maybe because I was exactly of that age. I was really an innocent naïve girl who really didn’t know anything black and white about this whole world and society. And I was living that life. So, I just said it the way I would have said those lines."


Priya Bapat mainly works in Marathi films and is best known for her roles in Kaksparsh and Aamhi Doghi films. She was recently seen with Maniesh Paul in the Rafuchakkar web-series.