It has always been said that preaching is easier than practice. Lage Raho Munnabhai contradicts this. This film simply shows how some of the Gandhian philosophies can be inculcated into our day-to-day life and problems can be solved peacefully. And to realise that one doesn’t need to be a Gandhian. Mahatma Gandhi was not just a freedom fighter or our “Father Of Nation” but much more than that. He was a thinker.
Nowhere in the film, does the director preach Gandhism. He rather talkes about Gandhigiri. He doesn’t talk about popular Gandhian economic or political theories but certain values Gandhi talked about. Certain gestures can make ones life simpler and stronger, like apologising, speaking truth, being non-violent yet assertive, non-superstitious and the most important of all-* tension nahi lene ka bhai!
Director Rajkumar Hirani has not forced us to believe the existence of Gandhi in the physical form but yes he has forced us to think how much do we care about our history. In the scene when Munna asks Circuit about the relevance of 2nd October, he just says, “dry day hai bhai”. Funny isn’t it? On face it is but it makes you think that are all the national holidays mean just few days off. We have stopped thinking beyond it.
A sequel to Munnabhai M.B.B.S., Lage Raho.. proved that sequels can do as good or better than the originals if scripts are well written. A sequel is more or less predictable about the treatment of the characters. We know how Circuit and MunnaBhai will interact, their lingo and body language. What comes, as a surprise is the concept and the complimenting script and screenplay. The way Gandhi is involved in the entire film and scientific reasons about Munna’s hallucinations makes it convincing. In the era of radio’s revival, the concept of RJ is just apt. The director has worked on the details very much. He has taken care of small small things, like, the pictures of Gandhi in the books and on walls were of Dilip Prabhavalkar’s and not of Gandhi. This made it more believable.
Performances in the film are very good. Whether Arshad Warsi as Circuit or Sanjay Dutt as Munna Bhai, Boman Irani as Lucky Singh or Dilip Prabhavalkar as Mahatma Gandhi, everybody fits into their characters to “t”. Arshad Warsi is really adorable in the film. He makes you laugh and he makes you cry. He acts as an envelope to Sanjay Dutt. His very presence uplifts your mood and brings smile. Vidya Balan has shown her range of performance in this film. After a movie like ‘Parineeta’, this film has proved that she is here to stay. Boman Irani after a sophisticated doctor in the first part, plays a shrewd property dealer. The only similarity being that in both the movies he does everything for his daughter.
One of the best movies of this decade, Lage Raho… will be remembered for a long time. All that I can say is lage raho Raju Bhai…