The first thing that comes to mind after watching Munnabhai M.B.B.S is why in the world the director of the movie think of casting SRK as the original choice. In Munna not only does Sanjay Dutt give a delightfully memorable performance, but gives a life to his role and thereby lifts the whole movie to a new level. Why even the customary ‘palat ke dekh’ scene too was handled deftly and sweetly by Dutt without going over board which SRK in his elements must and must in those situations.
Munnabhai M.B.B.S is a delightful comedy which not only tickles your tummy, but also tickles your tummy. (Okay, that was a poor joke I admit). Anyway, M.B.B.S thankfully breaks away from the norms of Indian comedy movie making, which much of it has been controlled by David Dhawan and his bunch of uncontrolled freaks. Here is a director who shows us that a comedy need not mean over reactive characters, shouting at the voice of decibel + 10, or getting into ridiculous situations level the borderline insanity. Here is a director who knows that there are comedians besides Kader Khan and Johhny Lever and he need not rely on their comic timing to get the comedy right – instead, he knows what works and concentrates on it – The Screenplay.
Simply put, here is why you must watch this movie without fail –
>> Because Munnabhai doesn’t attempt at childish amateurish humor. It aims to have a good script worth laughing, and doesn’t rely on the characters to enforce the laugh from you.
>> Because Munnabhai is a gem of a person – the next door rogue but with a heart. While he attempts at becoming a doctor, his perceptions of normal day activities of Hospital not only make for wishful thinking, but also point out very in a subtle manner of how forms and papers becoming more important than saving a life at risk.
>> With Munnabhai, you learn that it needs more to be a good doctor; sometimes its not doctors which do the miracle, it’s the touch that does it. A friendly doctor has better chance of succeeding where others fail.
>> In Munnabhai, we are not treated a ridiculous set of scenes happening one after another, but a series of well formed, intelligently thought of scenes and characters. While the basic premise of the movie is a little stretched and has its nuances of flaws, the tight screenplay and script never let you notice them at all.
>> In Munnabhai, we are finally saved from the entire mush factor in the movie. The romance between the hero and heroine is refreshing and subtle – nothing overboard – no melodramatic emotional break downs, no sherwanis and shaadis - nice, cute and simple, the love story is handled with care.
>> Because, we are saved from songs popping up from nowhere – rather the songs are all situational and blend nicely with the movie. The title track is especially zany and does full justice by repeating throughout the movie.
>> With Munnabhai, we also get to meet his pal, Circuit played by Arshad Warsi in superbly etched out and performed role. Warsi gives full credit to his role and plays it handsomely to the core; his comic touch with Munnabhai are indeed treat to watch.
>> Because the journey of Munnabhai is simply hilarious – special mention must go to the hilarious ragging scenes and the copying tactics.
>> Because the director shows that there is a difference between blind inspiration from Hollywood and intelligent inspiration. While bulk of the story is really inspired by the Hollywood movie Patch Adams (Robin Williams again taking the cake), the director suitably indianizes the plot and gives it the much needed authenticity. Instead of blindly aping Hollywood, he choose the best parts and then presents it in a good way to the audience.
>> In Munnabhai, we get to meet Boman Irani who essays the role of dean of the college – a supreme controlled performance which I am sure Tiku Talsania would have screwed it big time. Irani gives a wicked performance of a man who laughs when angry and believe me, he has your ribs tickling most of the time.
>> Because Munnabhai is laced with some superb locations, cinematography colors – they are neither bold nor bleak. They are just right and set the tone for the movie; a breezy feeling is well evident through out the movie.
>> Because you have to hand it to Vidhu Vinod Chopra whose has a good strain of luck when it comes to his assistant directors making it big and different. While Nikhil-Karan-Advani-Johar still are confused between their identities, Chopra has effectively launched two good assistant directors, one in Sanjay Leela Bhansali and now Rajkumar Hirani.
>> Because, this is a comedy you really laugh at. And if a comedy movie succeeds in doing that, then it has served its purpose. All other aspects of the movie are simply secondary.