It's all a chemical 'locha' (aberration). Munnabhai meets Mahatma Gandhi
and they get along like a house on fire. The prophetic leader from the
past has a blast as he tells Munna (Sanjay Dutt) how to deal with an avaricious
builder (Boman Irani) and other problems in life.
It looks like Circuit (Arshad Warsi) has competition this time. Even
as he remains fiercely loyal to his mentor Munna, the latter shifts
his attention to the lovely Radio Jockey Jahanvi and Mahatma Gandhi.
The father of the nation keeps appearing in Munna's daytime reverie
to advise the benign gangster on love, life and other vagaries of being
human.
Munna and Circuit, arguably cinema's most adorable and roguish reformists
since Laurel and Hardy, go about the business of generating humour out
of the pathos of human conditions. The sequences, all fiercely path
breaking, have us in splits.
Watch the love-lorn Munnabhai answer a Gandhian quiz on a phone-in
radio quiz with the help of kidnapped professors... it's one of the
most comically animated sequences seen in movies of the new millennium.
To look at "Lage Raho Munnabhai" as a 'serious comedy' is
to seriously undermine the motivations and impact of the series.
Playing the street-smart ruffians with cool hearts, Sanjay Dutt and
Arshad Warsi bring a chirpy enchantment to their roles. Their parts
have hefty hearts, but there's more. There's also innocence and a desire
to make the world a better place.
Although
some of the music and jokes are derived from the first film, this time
Hirani takes the duo further down the road of moralistic mirth to create
what can easily be deemed the most significant satire in Indian cinema
since "Munnabhai MBBS".
Munna and Mahatma Gandhi make an interesting combination. While outwardly
the two seem as disparate in time and personality as Sanjay Dutt and
his father Sunil Dutt, both are in essence all heart and no guile.
The Munna-Mahatma dialogues sparkle with satirical wisdom, thanks in
no small part to Dutt and Dilip Prabhavalkar (who plays Gandhiji with
tongue-in-cheek conviction). The dialogues by Hirani and Abhijeet Joshi
constantly probe the moral and social system of the nation without getting
hysterical on homilies.
The film makes light of national issues without trivialising the cult
of conscience.
"Lage Raho Munnabhai" is a parable on love and companionship.
Whether it's Munnabhai's bonding with his faithful companion Circuit,
or Munna courting his ladylove (Vidya Balan) and Gandhism, the narrative
dodges false notes by remaining sincere to the characters.
Every actor gets a chance to be special in this enriching take on non-violent
protests. Sanjay Dutt proves yet again that he has shaped into a fine
performer who can mingle poignancy with satire the way Raj Kapoor did
in films like "Shri 420" and "Awara", or like Sunil
Dutt did in "Milan" and "Meherbaan".
But Warsi manages to steal some scenes from Dutt... That's how effective
he is! Surely he's one of the finest young actors today.
Vidya Balan is gloriously glamorous and likeable though she could have
toned down those expressions of coyness.
However, some emotional moments, like those between Jimmy Shergil and
his screen-father Parikshit Sahni or the flamboyant wedding finale starring
Diya Mirza, do not have the impact one thought they would.
Though a wee short of tears, "Lage Raho Munnabhai" goes a
long way in creating an endearing parable on the importance of being
earnest in a world of growing duplicity.
The narrative is so heart-warming and the characters so full of human
kindness, that you wait for the plot to be weighed down by excessive
self-importance.
The fall never happens. "Lage Raho Munnabhai" remains true
to its characters till the end.
One of Munna's favourite words is 'daring'. It must also be Raj Kumar
Hirani's favourite as he dares to dream of Gandhian peace in a world
of extravagant cynicism and rancour.
When the aggressive Munna turns his other cheek, you actually wonder
if Gandhian values still have a place in our hearts.
They most certainly do have a place in Hirani's art
