‘Lage Raho Munna Bhai’: Fight against Institutionalism Continues
"Lage Raho Munna Bhai" is the second film in 'Munna Bhai' series, released in 2006. It is a second film directed by Rajkumar Hirani. Munna Bhai and Circuit are there in their original roles, the rest of the characters are new. In this film, Munna Bhai visualizes Mahatma Gandhi and following his ideas initiates 'Gandhigiri', a neologism based on the words Gandhiwad (Gandhism) and Bhaigiri (hooliganism). This time the fight is against the institution of Society. The fight is against the prevalent corruption and superstition in our day-to-day lives and the people who thrive on it, the people with established interests in such social evils.
"Lage Raho Munna Bhai" was a box-office success.
The film wins four awards in National Film Awards of 2006: 1. Best Popular
Film, 2. Best Lyrics (Swanand Kirkire), 3. Best Screenplay (Rajkumar Hirani, Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Abhijat Joshi) and 4. Best
Supporting Actor (Dilip Prabhavalkar, who played Mahatma Gandhi in
the film). The film was also screened at the Tous Les Cinema du Monde section
of the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.
The movie is about the local goon, Munna Bhai who falls
for a Radio Jockey Jahnavi. There is a competition on Radio on the Birthday of
Mahatma Gandhi; the reward for the winner is an opportunity to meet Jahnavi.
Munna, through his hooliganism, wins the competition and goes to meet Jahnavi
where he introduces himself as a Professor of History and a specialist of
Gandhian thought. Impressed by him, Jahnavi invites him to deliver a lecture to
her 'Second Innings House' where she lives with few other elderly couples. To
make the lecture possible, Munna reads exhaustively about Gandhi's life and
thoughts for three days and nights without ample food and sleep. At this
juncture, 'Bapu' appears in front of him. This spirit of Bapu helps him gain
the confidence of Jahnavi; he also started hosting Radio show with Jahnavi
based on Gandhigiri. But, in spite of constant reminder from Bapu,
he did not tell the truth about himself to Jahnavi. Here, Lucky Singh, a
corrupt businessman, uses Munna and his gang for his criminal activities. With
the help of Circuit, he captures 'Second innings House' when Munna was away
with Jahnavi and the other residents of the house. Munna started a non-violent
protest to regain the house. He tells everything about Jahnavi, because of
which she leaves him, but Munna continues his fight against Lucky Singh. And
ultimately wins.
The Protagonist - Munna Bhai, like the previous film is
beyond the social norms of behavior. He is not worried about his social
identity and doesn't have to worry about his social face. He is innocent and
humanitarian like the previous film. One more characteristic added to his
character is he is a staunch follower of his understanding of Ganghian
principles. Through his radio-show, he helps lot of people fighting against
corruption, depression and accepting their follies. But, one aspect is he
believes that by observing Gandhian principles he would also become famous like
Gandhi, there will be roads on his name, too. There will be holidays on his
birthday; postal stamps with his photo and his stories in the textbooks. Thus,
he is not following Gandhian principles because they are right to follow but
because he wants publicity and Jahnavi.
The Helper - Circuit is always there on the side of
Munna. His sole aim is to support him. Even if he could not see the spirit of
Bapu, he simply accepts it because Munna says so. He also supports Munna in
protest, and goes to jail with him. Like the protagonist, the helper, too,
doesn't worry about his social face.
The Purpose - The entire venture has multiple purposes.
The primary purpose of Munna Bhai is to win Jahnavi for which he does all Gandhigiri things.
But, if we consider the purpose of entire narrative, it is to prove that
Gandhian ideas are not outdated and can be practiced with effect in
present day society. The corruption in the society is a problem that is dealt
with effectively. Superstition, through the characters of Kkhurana and its
beneficiary, Batuk Maharaj, is dealt and exposed quite effectively. Like the
previous film, the reestablishment of humanitarian characteristics and behavior
in the society is the goal, Gandhian ideology is a medium.
The Antagonist - There is no antagonist as such in a
traditional sense. But, social norms and behaviors are the true antagonists
here. Corruption and Superstition beliefs are the vices that are addressed
directly in the movie. The businessmen like Lucky Singh flourish on corruption
and the religious gurus like Batuk Maharaj flourish on superstition. Apart from
these, the notion of social face above the life and liking of dear ones is also
dealt with in the cases of Simran and Victor D'Souza. The main antagonist of
the movie is the social vices which need to be recognized and removed.
Self-realization - Munna could have used force to gain
Second Innings House and teach a lesson of life-time to Lucky Singh. But, in
order to establish virtues self-realization is important. Two cases turn the
table. In first case, Munna is called in a press conference and made to say
that he is being helped by Bapu. A psychiatrist comes forward and asks Munna
some questions about Mahatma Gandhi which he could not answer. Psychiatrist
says that Munna is delusional and can answer the questions that he's aware
about. There is no Mahatma around him. This incident made him realize that
whatever he has been doing is out of the 'chemical imbalance in his
brain'. He realizes that he is good for nothing. And he decides to leave the
city.
Help from a Closed-one - Before leaving the city, he
decides to send a message to Jahnavi and for this he goes on air. But, at this
time, Simran, daughter of Lucky Singh, calls him for help as she is not happy
with her father's lies for her marriage. She loves the boy but she doesn't want
to get married on a lie. And hence she asks for his advice. Munna asks her to
go back home and tell the truth. She goes back and tells the truth and the
groom's father, superstitious Kkhurana decides to leave the marriage. Munna and
Circuit come there and made people realize that Jyotish and superstitions are
believe systems which may not necessarily be true. Police comes and arrests
them. The groom takes a step and accepts Simran and they get married. This
incident changes the hearts of Lucky Singh as well as Kkhurana, as he is shown
to remove extra 'k' from his name.
Munna's help to Simran gets him Second Innings House.
Jahnavi comes to visit him at jail and bails him and Circuit. Munna and Jahnavi
are together now; they host the Radio-show on Gnadhigiri helping more people
every day. The elderly residents of Second Innings House returns to their home,
Simran is shown living happily with her husband and kids. Thus, the main goal
of gaining love of Jahnavi is achieved. The other goals like using Gandhian
ideas to spread love and compassion in the society and eradicating
corruption and superstition are successful to some extent.
Film also employs anti-language like the previous movie.
Wordslike Gandhigiri is used extensively to foreground
Gandhian backdrop. Lucky Singh was considered morally sick and for him Munna
asks everyone to send the messages of 'Get well soon' and flowers. For Munna
and Circuit, Namrata means 'politeness' in Hindi. Leaving old
parents at Old age homes, Lucky Singh's greed for fame and money
are yet another issues discussed in the movie. The film made such an
impact on the people that people started following the 'Get well soon' drama in
real life as well.
Published in: The Hills Times – Heritage June 22, 2017. Page No. 07
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