When Akshay Kumar revealed the third entry in the Welcome series, titled Welcome to the Jungle, movie fans were ecstatic. Our favourite Munna and Circuit, aka Sanjay Dutt and Arshad Warsi, were visible standing next to Akshay in the announcement video. We were ecstatic to have this unexpected reunion. So when Buzz hinted that Sanju Baba was leaving the project, it broke our hearts.

The report is accurate, but in contrast to what has been said, his departure has nothing to do with his falling out with co-star Akshay. According to a source, Sanjay left Welcome three months ago because, following a protracted battle with cancer, he was unable to keep up with the action segments.

‘Health Reasons’

The source revealed that Sanjay was very enthusiastic for the film but he couldn’t keep up due to his health reasons.

A close source disclosed, “Sanjay was very enthusiastic about the film and had even begun shooting. Unfortunately, after completing just one day of filming on Madh Island a few months ago, he informed the director that he couldn’t continue due to health reasons following his battle with cancer and the subsequent treatments. Although Welcome 3 is a masala movie filled with humour, it also involves a lot of action (Sanjay’s character had a lot of action in the movie), which he didn’t anticipate and found himself unable to perform.”

‘Diagnosed with cancer’

Dutt’s family never disclosed specifics about his diagnosis, but it was reported that he had stage 4 lung cancer. The Munna Bhai MBBS actor revealed his cancer diagnosis in August 2020. He announced that he was cancer-free several months later.

The source continues, “Arshad (Warsi) was quite happy to reconnect with his Munna Bhai co-star; however, it did not work out. As soon as Sanjay informed the team about his decision, Suniel Shetty stepped up to fill in for the former’s role. The filming is almost done, and the crew is surprised as to why this negative news has been doing the rounds now because it all happened many months ago.”