Lage Raho Munna Bhai
Encyclopedia
Lage Raho Munna Bhai is a 2006 Indian musical comedy film directed by Rajkumar Hirani
and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra
. It is the second film in the popular Munna Bhai
series of Bollywood
. Sanjay Dutt
stars in this film as Munna Bhai
, a Mumbai
(Bombay) underworld don
, who begins to see the spirit of Mahatma Gandhi
. Through his interactions with the image of Gandhi, Munna Bhai begins to practice what he calls Gandhigiri
(Satyagraha
, non-violence, and truth) to help ordinary people solve their problems. His sidekick
, Circuit, is portrayed by Arshad Warsi
.
Lage Raho Munna Bhai has had a strong cultural impact in India, popularising Gandhism
under Munna Bhai's notion of Gandhigiri. As noted by critics, the film has "stirred the popular imagination," leading to a number of Gandhigiri protests in India and in the United States: "For generations born after Gandhi's assassination, Munnabhai
, the eponym
ous hero of the film, has rendered 'Gandhism' passé and 'Gandhian' arcane. The new buzzword is 'Gandhigiri,' a value, and valuable, addition to the lexicon of a culture suffused with every abominable kind of 'Dadagiri' and 'Goondagiri.' "
The film was generally well-received by both critics and the mass audience. It was a box office success and was elevated to a "blockbuster" rating on Box Office India after grossing over Rs. 720 million. It is the recipient of a number of awards, including four National Film Awards
. Lage Raho Munna Bhai is the first Hindi film to be shown at the United Nations
, and also played to a packed house of mostly French students who "clapped till the credits were finished" during the Tous Les Cinema du Monde section of the 2007 Cannes Film Festival
. The Prime Minister of India
, Manmohan Singh
, praised the film, stating that it "captures Bapu's message about the power of truth and humanism."
(Sanjay Dutt
) and the image of Mahatma Gandhi
(portrayed by Dilip Prabhavalkar
) who teaches him the principles of Gandhian philosophy
. Munna is helped by his sidekick, Circuit (Arshad Warsi
) who speaks with him in Bambaiya Hindi
, a dialect
specific to the Indian city of Mumbai
.
At the beginning of the story, Munna is in love with the voice of Janhavi (Vidya Balan
), a radio jockey. He devises a plan to meet her when she announces a contest featuring the life and beliefs of Mahatma Gandhi
set for 2 October—Gandhi Jayanti
, a national holiday celebrating the birth of Gandhi. Circuit helps Munna win the contest by kidnapping and then bribing a group of professors. As the winner, Munna is granted an interview with Janhavi wherein he presents himself as a professor of history and a Gandhi specialist. Janhavi subsequently asks Munna to present a lecture on Gandhi to a community of senior citizens who live in her home, called the "Second Innings House". In order to prepare for this event, Munna engages in a period of intense study at a Gandhi institute. For three days and nights (and without food or sleep), Munna reads about the life and ideologies of Gandhi.
It is during this period that the image of Mahatma Gandhi (Dilip Prabhavalkar
), addressed by his nickname "Bapu" ("father"), appears and offers help and advice to Munna. He encourages Munna to tell the truth about himself to Janhavi, but does not succeed for much of the film. Gandhi continues to appear each time Munna sings Raghupati Raghava Raja Ram (a song often sung in Gandhi's memory). With Gandhi's help, Munna succeeds in impressing Jahnavi and cultivates a new lifestyle based upon Gandhism (particularly adherence to non-violence and truth), which transforms everyone with whom he comes into contact. Munna starts to co-host a radio-show with Janhavi and Gandhi's image, guiding his audience to use Gandhigiri
(a neologism for Gandhism
) to solve everyday problems.
Several subplots in the film highlight the power of Gandhigiri. One of the most prominent of these details the story of Lucky Singh (Boman Irani
) and his daughter Simran (Dia Mirza
). Lucky is an unscrupulous businessman who employs Circuit and Munna Bhai to conduct underworld
activities for him. His daughter, Simran, is engaged to marry Sunny (Abhishek Bachchan
), the son of the powerful businessman Kkhurana (Kulbhushan Kharbanda
). Kkhurana is superstitious and his activities are controlled by his astrologer, Batuk Maharaj (Saurabh Shukla
), whose particular use of numerology
led Kkhurana to add an extra "K" to his real name (Khurana) as well as to the conclusion that the "Second Innings House" would be the most auspicious place for Sunny and Simran to live. Maharaj also convinces Kkhurana to reject the marriage between Simran and Sunny when it is revealed that Simran is considered to be a manglik
(an individual whose Vedic astrological makeup is believed by some to be devastating for marriage, mostly leading to the death of the spouse after a certain calculated period of marriage).
Lucky appropriates the "Second Innings House" by sending Munna to Goa (keeping him out of the way) and then blackmailing him to let the matter pass or risk losing his love Janhavi. In response, Munna launches a "non-violent" protest to reclaim the house. He calls this protest "Get Well Soon, Lucky" and asks his radio show's audience to send Lucky flowers (red roses especially) to help him recover from the "disease of dishonesty". It is during this time that Munna decides to tell Janhavi the truth (via a letter he gives to her). Heartbroken, Janhavi leaves Munna. Munna receives another setback when he is tricked by Lucky into revealing his conversations with Gandhi before a public audience. At this conference, he finds that only after he has learned something about "Bapu"'s life can the Gandhi image talk about it, which serves as proof for a psychiatrist in the audience that Munna is delusional. Gandhi's monologue at the end of the film, however, questions this conclusion. Munna, despite these defeats, continues to use Gandhigiri, a decision which transforms Lucky, revives Janhavi's affection, and resolves Simran's marriage. Lucky Singh eventually becomes a student of "Gandhigiri" and is greeted by Gandhi's image not long after he has begun to study "Bapu"'s life. Immediately he calls for a photograph to be taken of them together; this perplexes the photographer, who cannot see the Gandhi image.
Additional subplots include the story of Victor D'Souza (Jimmy Shergill
), a youth who, having lost his father's (Parikshat Sahni
) money in the stock market, promises to earn back the money by working as a taxi driver. Both Victor and his father are advised over the telephone and over the radio by Munna during this interaction. It is Victor who returns Simran to her family when she had fled to escape her father's shame and had heard the advice of Munna. Another includes the story of a retired teacher who, having been denied his pension, offers everything he owns to the corrupt official in the pension office in order to shame him.
In this manner, the application of Gandhi's concept of satyagraha
(non-violence) to day-to-day modern life (and thus the revival of Gandhi's "spirit") was the central thematic issue of the film. The film also tackled issues related to social justice such as the impact of superstitions caused by astrology and numerology on daily life. Khurana's own soothsayer is disgraced when Munnabhai challenges him to foretell his own future.
has compared this format to the films of Charlie Chaplin
and Laurel and Hardy
, as well as to the James Bond series. Others have also likened the series to the work of Laurel and Hardy. Some, however, have negated this comparison, stating that the series is more akin to the Road to...
"buddy films" of Bob Hope
and Bing Crosby
. Director Rajkumar Hirani admitted that his work was deeply inspired by the films of Hrishikesh Mukherjee
.
Cinematic works by Vidhu Vinod Chopra
(such as Parineeta
) often contain allusion
s to other important films and works of music or literature. In Lage Raho Munna Bhai, Jahnavi's opening line for her radio show, "Gooooooood Moooooooorninnnng Mumbai!", resembles Robin Williams
' opening for his radio show ("Gooooooooood morning, Vietnaaaaaaaaammm!") in the 1987 film Good Morning, Vietnam
.
as a central character in the film introduces, through his interactions with Munna Bhai
, important thematic concepts and ideas that draw upon the period of Colonial India
and the Indian independence movement
. Gandhi was a leader in this movement, challenging the British Empire
's presence in India through the use of Satyagraha
(non-violence). In this context, Jahnavi and Munna Bhai's non-violent protest against Lucky Singh serves as a metaphor for the Indian independence movement and the battle against the British Raj
.
The thematic attention to Gandhi's theories in Lage Raho Munna Bhai revived an interest in Gandhism
in India under the new term Gandhigiri
and "made Gandhi suddenly hip" with Indians "staging nonviolent protests, starting Web sites, handing out roses to enemies and putting on peaked white caps from the Gandhi era." Arunabha Ghosh notes, "Gandhi, the man, was once the message. In the India of the post-liberalisation brand, gandhigiri is the message." As chronicled by the International Herald Tribune
article, "Does urbanized India have room for Gandhi?" (20 September 2006):
Mark Sappenfield of The Christian Science Monitor
argues that the film was appealing because, "Gandhi gets his hands dirty. He appears as an apparition only visible to the wayward gangster, counselling him on how to help others deal with everyday problems." Swati Gauri Sharma further suggests in The Boston Globe that what the United States "needs is a film that encourages people to take up Gandhigiri, Kinggiri, or Kennedygiri
. If it worked for Bollywood, it could work for Hollywood."
After the release of the film, Gandhigiri
-style protests began to take place in the United States and India. In the United States during July 2007, Aman Kapoor, founder of the Immigration Voice forum, initiated a Gandhigiri protest inspired by Lage Raho Munna Bhai. Over a three day period, hundreds of flower bouquets were sent to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services
office by Indians who were legally in the U.S. but caught in a green card
backlog. In response, the USCIS shipped the flowers to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center
and Bethesda Naval
hospitals. On 17 July, the USCIS announced that "it will accept applications from foreign professionals seeking permanent residency through an expedited process, reversing its earlier decision." USCIS Director Emilio T. Gonzalez
noted, "The public reaction to the July 2 announcement made it clear that the federal government's management of this process needs further review ... I am committed to working with Congress and the State Department to implement a more efficient system in line with public expectations."
There have also been a number of protests in India which were inspired by the film. Farmers staged a protest with flowers in the Vidarbha
region, and people who organised a protest in Lucknow
claimed to have been inspired by Lage Raho Munna Bhai to use roses to convey their message. Indian Greenpeace
activists delivered thousands of roses to Ratan Tata
, Chairman of Tata Motors
, to reconsider his plans of building a port at the nesting grounds of Olive Ridley
sea turtles. In Lucknow, students claimed to have been inspired by Lage Raho Munna Bhai to do volunteer work, planting trees "to conserve nature which is bound to benefit public health." The “Send Pramod Muthalik
a Valentine’s Day card” campaign was inspired by the film. Mafia don
Babloo Srivastava claimed to have been inspired by Lago Raho Munna Bhai to distribute roses as a "message of love and peace".
, on 29 January and 30 January 2007, a two-day conference (which included about 400 world leaders) to celebrate the 100th anniversary of satyagraha
in South Africa was held. Partial inspiration for the conference came from Lage Raho Munna Bhai.
Lage Raho Munna Bhai also inspired a new interest in books about Gandhi. In particular, demand for Gandhi's autobiography, My Experiments with Truth increased after the film debuted, including requests from prison inmates. In addition, due to its influence, the film was made tax-free in Mumbai
.
agreed to produce
Rajkumar Hirani
's film Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.
when no one else would (Hirani had worked as an editor on Chopra's Mission Kashmir
). They also collaborated on the script for the film. Rajkumar Hirani next began work on a film that was not related to the Munnabhai series but instead focused on a man who hallucinates about Gandhi. Hirani was in talks with Aamir Khan
about the screenplay. However, after a period of time Hirani decided to combine this script with a pending sequel to Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.
and thus Khan was dropped from the project. Khan and Hirani would instead team up a few years later for Three Idiots
.
The sequel was initially known as Munnabhai Meets Mahatma Gandhi and was later retitled Munnabhai 2nd Innings before being given its current name. Film director and screenwriter
Rajkumar Hirani
admitted in an interview that he felt the burden of expectation while writing the screenplay for Lage Raho Munna Bhai, as he had to create "something to match" the first film. Initially there was some effort to incorporate scenes or particulars of the first film into the sequel (such as the idiosyncratic laugh of Dr. Asthana, portrayed by Boman Irani
), but the risks of repetition were then consciously averted.
One of Hirani's goals in making the film was to revive an interest in Mahatma Gandhi
, a figure whom he felt had been forgotten in contemporary India. To highlight this fact, Hirani recounted (during an interview) an incident with a chai-wallah boy (a boy who brings tea to the crew) during production:
The other screenwriter, Abhijat Joshi
(who currently teaches in the department of English at Otterbein College in Westerville, Ohio
), stated that he had been conducting extensive research on Gandhi for some time, a fact which inspired producer Chopra to involve Joshi in the creation of the second Munna Bhai screenplay.
While writing the screenplay, Hirani and Joshi stayed together for more than four months. They developed scenes by going out for a walk and discussing the scene. They would not return home until they had created a scene that would make them laugh, or cry, or had some provocative thought. While there was a shortage of resources during the shooting of Munna Bhai M.B.B.S., the crew did not encounter a financial crisis during the filming of Lage Raho Munna Bhai, as the team managed to receive whatever was deemed necessary (including a Jimmy Jib, a specific kind of camera crane, just for a single crane shot
). The film was shot on location in and around Mumbai, with Goa
as a backdrop for the filming of the "Aane Charaane" song.
Only two characters—those of Munna Bhai
(portrayed by Sanjay Dutt
) and Circuit (portrayed by Arshad Warsi
)—were retained from Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. Several actors, also from Munna Bhai M.B.B.S., appeared in Lage Raho Munna Bhai but as different characters. Vidya Balan was chosen to play the leading lady in the film as her voice was thought to be appropriate for that of a radio jockey.
The actors used several techniques to develop their characters. Arshad Warsi ("Circuit") encountered some initial problems reviving his character from the first film. On the first day of the shoot when Arshad, "said his first line, he didn't sound like Circuit at all. He sounded like Arshad Warsi speaking with an accent". Warsi admits that he had "forgotten" the character of Circuit and had to watch the DVD of Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. three times before being able to film the scene in the correct way. Sanjay Dutt ("Munna Bhai
") also confessed that he had to watch the first film eight to nine times in order to recapture the "persona" of Munna Bhai. In addition, Dutt stated in an interview that he did not read Gandhi's autobiography My Experiments with Truth
as a preparation for Lage Raho Munna Bhai. Rather, he comments, both his father, Sunil Dutt
(who portrays Munna Bhai's father in the first film, Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.) and his mother (the late actress Nargis
) were his role models as they "were basically Gandhians. We were brought up with those values". Dilip Prabhavalkar
, who portrays Gandhi in the film, did read Gandhi's works "once again" in order to prepare for his role. Boman Irani
prepared for the role of Lucky Singh by spending time with Sardarjis (male Sikh
s) in auto spare parts shops to research his role. Vidya Balan
("Jahnavi") also met with a couple of radio jockeys and watched them at work.
auditorium, Lage Raho Munna Bhai was the first Hindi
film to be shown at the UN. The film was introduced by Shashi Tharoor
, UN Under-Secretary General
for Communications and Public Information. Taran Adarsh
of Bollywood Hungama
observed that, "there was thunderous clapping at the high points of the film, like the pensioner shedding his clothes. The applause at the end of the screening was unending. A vibrant question and answer session followed with director Rajkumar Hirani, writer Abhijat Joshi and actor Boman Irani, who flew to the U.S. for the screening." The Indo-Asian News Service
(IANS) also noted that, "an evening that had started with massive security arrangements in the sombre UN setting, concluded in a festive atmosphere in the lounge of the UN with diplomats from other tables joining in raising a toast for the film." The United Nations General Assembly
announced on 15 June 2007, that it had "unanimously adopted" a resolution which declared 2 October, the day of Gandhi's birth (Gandhi Jayanti
, a national holiday in India) to be "the International Day of Non-Violence
".
In addition, the Prime Minister of India
, Manmohan Singh
, was given a private screening of Lage Raho Munna Bhai. After viewing the film, he stated that it "captures Bapu's message about the power of truth and humanism." In a speech during his visit to South Africa, Singh said, "I was heartened to see recently that back home in India the most popular movie this festival season is a film about a young man's discovery of the universal and timeless relevance of the Mahatma's message." Singh announced the creation of a new Public Services Bill to combat corruption in a press release dated 17 November 2006, and cited Lage Raho Munna Bhai as one of its influences.
Lage Raho Munna Bhai was further screened at a global judiciary summit in Lucknow
in December 2006. After viewing the film, Justice Kenneth Mithyane from South Africa commented, "The movie has re-enlivened the non-violence philosophy practiced by Mahatma Gandhi who continues to remain close to the hearts of the South Africans." Fatima Chouhan, a young member of the South African parliament, noted that, "'Munnabhai' will be widely appreciated in South Africa. I'm carrying a couple of video discs for my family and friends."
It was also a part of the Tous Les Cinema du Monde section of the 2007 Cannes Film Festival
. The film was well received as the audience had lined "up in long queues to catch the film that had been strongly recommended in festival reviews [...] not one person who entered the screening left before the end of the two-hours-thirty-minutes film." In addition, "the screening of the movie at the festival saw people sitting on the aisles as the theatre was completely packed [...] there was also a big group of French students that clapped till the credits were finished."
Several universities held screenings of the film. It was shown as part of the 27 October 2006 film festival Melodramas Of Change: USC's First Indian Film Festival, organised by the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts
. The screening was followed by a question and answer session with Vidhu Vinod Chopra
, Rajkumar Hirani
, and Abhijat Joshi
. Filmmaker Gurinder Chadha
also attended and spoke at the conclusion of the question and answer session. The film was also screened at Old Dominion University
on 20 March 2007 (as a part of Old Dominion University and City of Norfolk
ONFilm Festival), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Lecture Series Committee on 23 March & 24 March 2007, and Harvard Law School
on 3 April 2007 (as part of a series on nonviolence
).
go about the business of generating humour out of the pathos of the human condition. The sequences, all fiercely and famously 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 the movies of the new millennium." Taran Adarsh
of Bollywood Hungama
gave the film four out five stars, calling it "a sparkling example of qualitative cinema" arguing that it "not only entertains, it also enlightens." Nikhat Kazmi
of The Times of India
observes that "Vidhu Vinod Chopra gives the great Indian family one more let's-go-goodwill-hunting entertainer, even as director Raju Hirani proves that sequels needn't have the been there-done that feel..." Rajeev Masand
of CNN-IBN gave it four out of five stars and states: "Like those good old-fashioned Hrishikesh Mukherjee films, it also reinforces the importance of human goodness and basic niceties. Even if you might argue that some of Gandhi's principles seem outdated today, you cannot help but cheer for Munna and his gang as they achieve the impossible with love and kindness. And that is where this film transcends conventional boundaries. It entertains you, yes, but it also makes you yearn for a perfect world. Judge it by any yardstick that you may, Lage Raho Munnabhai emerges a clear winner. Much of that credit must go to its actors who pull out all stops to make it an enjoyable ride."
Other critics liked it as well. Poonam Joshi of the BBC
gave the film four out of five stars stating that, "everything about this film works [...] It's rare to see a film that bounces between humour and sentiment so seamlessly. And it is rarer still to see characters become etched in the memory so enduringly that audiences become almost protective of them. It's testimony both to the quality of the writing and the performances, that Munna and Circuit have taken on a life of their own." Vinayak Chakravorty of The Hindustan Times gave the film four out of four stars stating that it "cleverly works its way around the obvious hurdle that almost all sequels face: The film recreates an original milieu without a hint of the déjà vu downer. And that precisely ranks Munna Bhai 2 as one of the best entertainers this year." He also commended the film for showing "the heights Hindi cinema can scale despite staying within its masala
parameters. Lage raho, guys."
Phelim O'Neill of The Guardian
gave the film four out of five stars noting that, "as western romantic comedies become more vapid and even stalkerish, this delivers a credible message of peace, while never forgetting to be magnificent entertainment." Shastri Ramachandaran of The Tribune
wrote, "True, there have been memorable films on Mahatma Gandhi by distinguished directors, namely Richard Attenborough
and Shyam Benegal
;one offering a respectful cinematic acquaintance and the other being didactic but inspiring. For all their earnestness, neither film stirred the popular imagination like LRM has done now." Vaidyanathan from BBC
declared that, "Lage Raho is not only as good as MBBS, but much better" calling it "a brilliant emotional roller coaster ride." Jeremy Page of The Times
discussed the enormous popularity of the film upon release and noted the "serious point [the film made] about the need for tolerance, restraint and self-sacrifice."
Two of Gandhi's descendants responded positively to the film. According to Tushar Gandhi
, Gandhi's great-grandson, it introduced the philosophies of Gandhi to a new generation, adding that "Bapu would've spoken the language of Gandhigiri if he were alive today. I really feel this film says something that needs to be told." Gandhi's grandson, Rajmohan Gandhi
thought that it was "fabulous" and commented that, "the Gandhi presented in the film was authentic. I couldn't get over the intuitive skill of the story writer in getting to the heart of this remarkable man. I must say, I was terribly impressed."
Finally, filmmaker Kabir Khan
cited Lage Raho Munna Bhai as a model film for him as it "had an issue, but it was never once in your face. Rajkumar Hirani
kept it all so subtle and yet conveyed the message so well. It was as commercial as it gets and audiences too were thoroughly entertained. That's the way to make movies because it not just made all parties happy but also had a satisfied director at the end of it all."
Other critics offered more negative reviews. Ajit Duara argues in The Hindu
that "the accomplished cultural sophistication and political genius of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi has to be dumbed down to the astoundingly moronic levels of 'Lage Raho Munnabhai' " and S. Ganesh in Economic and Political Weekly
adds that the film "trivialises Gandhi: history as farce." Filmmaker Jahnu Barua
was also critical of the film, stating that, "Gandhian philosophy is serious business and Lage Raho Munna Bhai is not the right way to show it." Jug Suraiya of The Times of India
wrote, "thanks to Munnabhai, at best what exists of Gandhism is Gandhigiri, a watered down, Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People version of the original."
film of 2006, according to boxofficeindia.com, earning Rs
69.97 crore
s (699 million) net gross in India alone (and has also been rated a "Blockbuster"). It was also financially successful overseas, earning Rs 7 crores (70 million) gross in the United Kingdom, Rs 10.25 crores (102 million) gross in North America, and Rs 4.25 crores (42 million) gross for the rest of the overseas proceeds.
and four awards for Best Film/Critics Best Film (Filmfare Critics Award for Best Movie
, Bollywood Movie Award - Best Film
, GIFA Best Film, Star Screen Award Best Film
). It also won a number of other awards including best story and best dialogue in several award ceremonies. Some speculated that it would represent India as an entry for the 2007 Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. Although ultimately losing to Rang De Basanti
as India's official submission, the film's producers submitted it as an independent entry. However, neither film received an Oscar nomination.
of Lage Raho Munna Bhai contains a bonus DVD which has a 98-minute 5-part documentary
on the making of the film, interviews with members of the cast and crew, and information on the creation of the song and dance numbers. It also has a special feature called "Munna
meets Bapu."
Lage Raho Munnabhai - The Original Screenplay was released in December 2009. Published by Om Books International in association with Vinod Chopra Films, it was launched at an event with the original cast and crew from the film. The text includes an introductory note by Abhijat Joshi
which details the drafting of the screenplay. It also includes a number of stills from the film as well as character profiles.
won the National Film Award for Best Lyrics
in 2007 for the song "Bande Mein tha Dum."
Rajkumar Hirani
Rajkumar Hirani is a National Award and Filmfare Award winning Indian director, screenwriter and film editor of Hindi films, best known for the films Munna Bhai MBBS , Lage Raho Munnabhai and 3 Idiots , considered the highest-grossing Hindi film by distributor-share.-Early life and...
and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Vidhu Vinod Chopra is an Indian director and producer. Chopra is the head of his own company, Vinod Chopra Productions, and is particularly known for producing the Munna Bhai films and 3 Idiots.-Early life:Born in a Punjabi family of Kashmir,...
. It is the second film in the popular Munna Bhai
Munna Bhai
Munna Bhai is a series of Bollywood films directed by Rajkumar Hirani and produced by Vinod Chopra Productions. The first film is Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. , the second is Lage Raho Munna Bhai . A third film, Munnabhai Chale Amerika is still under development.-Overview:Murli Prasad Sharma is portrayed...
series of Bollywood
Bollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
. Sanjay Dutt
Sanjay Dutt
Sanjay Dutt is an Indian Hindi film actor and politician. Dutt, son of Hindi film actors Sunil and Nargis Dutt, made his acting debut in 1981.-Personal life:...
stars in this film as Munna Bhai
Munna Bhai
Munna Bhai is a series of Bollywood films directed by Rajkumar Hirani and produced by Vinod Chopra Productions. The first film is Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. , the second is Lage Raho Munna Bhai . A third film, Munnabhai Chale Amerika is still under development.-Overview:Murli Prasad Sharma is portrayed...
, a Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
(Bombay) underworld don
Indian mafia
The term Indian mafia refers to certain criminal organizations found in some of India's major cities. The "Indian Mafia" also refer to powerful families that have criminal aspects to it.- Mumbai underworld :...
, who begins to see the spirit of Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi , pronounced . 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was the pre-eminent political and ideological leader of India during the Indian independence movement...
. Through his interactions with the image of Gandhi, Munna Bhai begins to practice what he calls Gandhigiri
Gandhigiri
Gandhigiri is a relatively new term in India which is used to express the tenets of Gandhism in contemporary terms. The term became popular due to its usage in the 2006 Hindi film, Lage Raho Munna Bhai...
(Satyagraha
Satyagraha
Satyagraha , loosely translated as "insistence on truth satya agraha soul force" or "truth force" is a particular philosophy and practice within the broader overall category generally known as nonviolent resistance or civil resistance. The term "satyagraha" was conceived and developed by Mahatma...
, non-violence, and truth) to help ordinary people solve their problems. His sidekick
Sidekick
A sidekick is a close companion who is generally regarded as subordinate to the one he accompanies. Some well-known fictional sidekicks are Don Quixote's Sancho Panza, Sherlock Holmes' Doctor Watson, The Lone Ranger's Tonto, The Green Hornet's Kato and Batman's Robin.-Origins:The origin of the...
, Circuit, is portrayed by Arshad Warsi
Arshad Warsi
Arshad Warsi is an Indian actor who debuted in 1996 with the film Tere Mere Sapne which was a success but he is best known for his role as "Circuit" in the comedy films Munnabhai M.B.B.S. and Lage Raho Munnabhai and his role as Babban in Ishqiya which won him acclaim.-Early life and...
.
Lage Raho Munna Bhai has had a strong cultural impact in India, popularising Gandhism
Gandhism
Gandhism is the collection of inspirations, principles, beliefs and philosophy of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi , who was a major political and spiritual leader of India and the Indian Independence Movement....
under Munna Bhai's notion of Gandhigiri. As noted by critics, the film has "stirred the popular imagination," leading to a number of Gandhigiri protests in India and in the United States: "For generations born after Gandhi's assassination, Munnabhai
Munna Bhai
Munna Bhai is a series of Bollywood films directed by Rajkumar Hirani and produced by Vinod Chopra Productions. The first film is Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. , the second is Lage Raho Munna Bhai . A third film, Munnabhai Chale Amerika is still under development.-Overview:Murli Prasad Sharma is portrayed...
, the eponym
Eponym
An eponym is the name of a person or thing, whether real or fictitious, after which a particular place, tribe, era, discovery, or other item is named or thought to be named...
ous hero of the film, has rendered 'Gandhism' passé and 'Gandhian' arcane. The new buzzword is 'Gandhigiri,' a value, and valuable, addition to the lexicon of a culture suffused with every abominable kind of 'Dadagiri' and 'Goondagiri.' "
The film was generally well-received by both critics and the mass audience. It was a box office success and was elevated to a "blockbuster" rating on Box Office India after grossing over Rs. 720 million. It is the recipient of a number of awards, including four National Film Awards
National Film Awards
The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it is administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directorate of Film Festivals since 1973.Every year, a national panel...
. Lage Raho Munna Bhai is the first Hindi film to be shown at the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
, and also played to a packed house of mostly French students who "clapped till the credits were finished" during the Tous Les Cinema du Monde section of the 2007 Cannes Film Festival
2007 Cannes Film Festival
The 2007 Cannes Film Festival, the sixtieth, ran from 16 to 27 May 2007. Wong Kar-wai's My Blueberry Nights opened the festival, and Denys Arcand's The Age of Ignorance closed...
. The Prime Minister of India
Prime Minister of India
The Prime Minister of India , as addressed to in the Constitution of India — Prime Minister for the Union, is the chief of government, head of the Council of Ministers and the leader of the majority party in parliament...
, Manmohan Singh
Manmohan Singh
Manmohan Singh is the 13th and current Prime Minister of India. He is the only Prime Minister since Jawaharlal Nehru to return to power after completing a full five-year term. A Sikh, he is the first non-Hindu to occupy the office. Singh is also the 7th Prime Minister belonging to the Indian...
, praised the film, stating that it "captures Bapu's message about the power of truth and humanism."
Plot
The central premise of the film rests upon the relationship between Munna BhaiMunna Bhai
Munna Bhai is a series of Bollywood films directed by Rajkumar Hirani and produced by Vinod Chopra Productions. The first film is Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. , the second is Lage Raho Munna Bhai . A third film, Munnabhai Chale Amerika is still under development.-Overview:Murli Prasad Sharma is portrayed...
(Sanjay Dutt
Sanjay Dutt
Sanjay Dutt is an Indian Hindi film actor and politician. Dutt, son of Hindi film actors Sunil and Nargis Dutt, made his acting debut in 1981.-Personal life:...
) and the image of Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi , pronounced . 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was the pre-eminent political and ideological leader of India during the Indian independence movement...
(portrayed by Dilip Prabhavalkar
Dilip Prabhavalkar
Dilip Prabhavalkar is an Indian Marathi film and television actor. Although he has established himself as a prominent Marathi stage and movie actor for a while now, he became particularly known on the national scene for his portrayal of Mahatma Gandhi in the 2006 film, Lage Raho Munna Bhai. He...
) who teaches him the principles of Gandhian philosophy
Gandhism
Gandhism is the collection of inspirations, principles, beliefs and philosophy of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi , who was a major political and spiritual leader of India and the Indian Independence Movement....
. Munna is helped by his sidekick, Circuit (Arshad Warsi
Arshad Warsi
Arshad Warsi is an Indian actor who debuted in 1996 with the film Tere Mere Sapne which was a success but he is best known for his role as "Circuit" in the comedy films Munnabhai M.B.B.S. and Lage Raho Munnabhai and his role as Babban in Ishqiya which won him acclaim.-Early life and...
) who speaks with him in Bambaiya Hindi
Bambaiya Hindi
Mumbai Hindi or simply Mumbaiyya is a Hindi pidgin spoken in and around the city of Mumbai, India. It incorporates words and pronunciations from Hindi, Urdu, Gujarati, Marathi, Konkani and English...
, a dialect
Dialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
specific to the Indian city of Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
.
At the beginning of the story, Munna is in love with the voice of Janhavi (Vidya Balan
Vidya Balan
Vidya Balan is an Indian actress, who appears in Hindi films. After graduating with a degree in sociology, she started her career starring in music videos, television shows and commercials, before appearing in feature films....
), a radio jockey. He devises a plan to meet her when she announces a contest featuring the life and beliefs of Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi , pronounced . 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was the pre-eminent political and ideological leader of India during the Indian independence movement...
set for 2 October—Gandhi Jayanti
Gandhi Jayanti
Gandhi Jayanti is a National Holiday celebrated in India to mark the occasion of the birthday of Mohandas Gandhi, the "Father of the Nation." He was born on October 2, 1869. Hence Gandhi Jayanti is celebrated every year on the 2nd of October. It is one of the three official declared National...
, a national holiday celebrating the birth of Gandhi. Circuit helps Munna win the contest by kidnapping and then bribing a group of professors. As the winner, Munna is granted an interview with Janhavi wherein he presents himself as a professor of history and a Gandhi specialist. Janhavi subsequently asks Munna to present a lecture on Gandhi to a community of senior citizens who live in her home, called the "Second Innings House". In order to prepare for this event, Munna engages in a period of intense study at a Gandhi institute. For three days and nights (and without food or sleep), Munna reads about the life and ideologies of Gandhi.
It is during this period that the image of Mahatma Gandhi (Dilip Prabhavalkar
Dilip Prabhavalkar
Dilip Prabhavalkar is an Indian Marathi film and television actor. Although he has established himself as a prominent Marathi stage and movie actor for a while now, he became particularly known on the national scene for his portrayal of Mahatma Gandhi in the 2006 film, Lage Raho Munna Bhai. He...
), addressed by his nickname "Bapu" ("father"), appears and offers help and advice to Munna. He encourages Munna to tell the truth about himself to Janhavi, but does not succeed for much of the film. Gandhi continues to appear each time Munna sings Raghupati Raghava Raja Ram (a song often sung in Gandhi's memory). With Gandhi's help, Munna succeeds in impressing Jahnavi and cultivates a new lifestyle based upon Gandhism (particularly adherence to non-violence and truth), which transforms everyone with whom he comes into contact. Munna starts to co-host a radio-show with Janhavi and Gandhi's image, guiding his audience to use Gandhigiri
Gandhigiri
Gandhigiri is a relatively new term in India which is used to express the tenets of Gandhism in contemporary terms. The term became popular due to its usage in the 2006 Hindi film, Lage Raho Munna Bhai...
(a neologism for Gandhism
Gandhism
Gandhism is the collection of inspirations, principles, beliefs and philosophy of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi , who was a major political and spiritual leader of India and the Indian Independence Movement....
) to solve everyday problems.
Several subplots in the film highlight the power of Gandhigiri. One of the most prominent of these details the story of Lucky Singh (Boman Irani
Boman Irani
Boman Irani is an Indian film and theatre actor and photographer. Irani began his acting career in theatre and moved to film in 2000 at the age of 44 with a role in Josh...
) and his daughter Simran (Dia Mirza
Dia Mirza
Dia Mirza Handrich nicknamed Dee and more popularly known as Dia Mirza, is a Indian model and actress who appears in Bollywood films...
). Lucky is an unscrupulous businessman who employs Circuit and Munna Bhai to conduct underworld
Indian mafia
The term Indian mafia refers to certain criminal organizations found in some of India's major cities. The "Indian Mafia" also refer to powerful families that have criminal aspects to it.- Mumbai underworld :...
activities for him. His daughter, Simran, is engaged to marry Sunny (Abhishek Bachchan
Abhishek Bachchan
Abhishek Bachchan is an Indian actor and producer. He is the son of Indian actors Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan and is married to actress and former Miss World Aishwarya Rai....
), the son of the powerful businessman Kkhurana (Kulbhushan Kharbanda
Kulbhushan Kharbanda
Kulbhushan Kharbanda is an Indian actor, who worked in Hindi and Punjabi films, and is known as character Shakaal in Shaan inspired by the character of Blofeld from James Bond movies...
). Kkhurana is superstitious and his activities are controlled by his astrologer, Batuk Maharaj (Saurabh Shukla
Saurabh Shukla
-Early life:Shukla's family left Gorakhpur for Delhi when he was two years old. After completing his schooling, he did his graduation from Khalsa College, Delhi...
), whose particular use of numerology
Numerology
Numerology is any study of the purported mystical relationship between a count or measurement and life. It has many systems and traditions and beliefs...
led Kkhurana to add an extra "K" to his real name (Khurana) as well as to the conclusion that the "Second Innings House" would be the most auspicious place for Sunny and Simran to live. Maharaj also convinces Kkhurana to reject the marriage between Simran and Sunny when it is revealed that Simran is considered to be a manglik
Mangal Dosha
Mangal Dosha or Kuja= mind and body Dosha is an astrological combination that occurs if Mars is in the 1st, 4th, 7th, 8th, or 12th house of the Vedic astrology Ascendant chart...
(an individual whose Vedic astrological makeup is believed by some to be devastating for marriage, mostly leading to the death of the spouse after a certain calculated period of marriage).
Lucky appropriates the "Second Innings House" by sending Munna to Goa (keeping him out of the way) and then blackmailing him to let the matter pass or risk losing his love Janhavi. In response, Munna launches a "non-violent" protest to reclaim the house. He calls this protest "Get Well Soon, Lucky" and asks his radio show's audience to send Lucky flowers (red roses especially) to help him recover from the "disease of dishonesty". It is during this time that Munna decides to tell Janhavi the truth (via a letter he gives to her). Heartbroken, Janhavi leaves Munna. Munna receives another setback when he is tricked by Lucky into revealing his conversations with Gandhi before a public audience. At this conference, he finds that only after he has learned something about "Bapu"'s life can the Gandhi image talk about it, which serves as proof for a psychiatrist in the audience that Munna is delusional. Gandhi's monologue at the end of the film, however, questions this conclusion. Munna, despite these defeats, continues to use Gandhigiri, a decision which transforms Lucky, revives Janhavi's affection, and resolves Simran's marriage. Lucky Singh eventually becomes a student of "Gandhigiri" and is greeted by Gandhi's image not long after he has begun to study "Bapu"'s life. Immediately he calls for a photograph to be taken of them together; this perplexes the photographer, who cannot see the Gandhi image.
Additional subplots include the story of Victor D'Souza (Jimmy Shergill
Jimmy Shergill
Jasjit Singh Gill , popularly known as Jimmy Shergill , is an Indian actor.-Early life:Shergill was born in a Jatt Sikh family in Gorakhpur, India and studied there till 5th Grade in St. Paul's School. Then, his family shifted to Patiala...
), a youth who, having lost his father's (Parikshat Sahni
Parikshat Sahni
Parikshit Sahni is an Indian film and television actor, who is most known for playing the lead in TV series Barrister Vinod, Gul Gulshan Gulfaam and Gaatha ....
) money in the stock market, promises to earn back the money by working as a taxi driver. Both Victor and his father are advised over the telephone and over the radio by Munna during this interaction. It is Victor who returns Simran to her family when she had fled to escape her father's shame and had heard the advice of Munna. Another includes the story of a retired teacher who, having been denied his pension, offers everything he owns to the corrupt official in the pension office in order to shame him.
In this manner, the application of Gandhi's concept of satyagraha
Satyagraha
Satyagraha , loosely translated as "insistence on truth satya agraha soul force" or "truth force" is a particular philosophy and practice within the broader overall category generally known as nonviolent resistance or civil resistance. The term "satyagraha" was conceived and developed by Mahatma...
(non-violence) to day-to-day modern life (and thus the revival of Gandhi's "spirit") was the central thematic issue of the film. The film also tackled issues related to social justice such as the impact of superstitions caused by astrology and numerology on daily life. Khurana's own soothsayer is disgraced when Munnabhai challenges him to foretell his own future.
Cast
- Sanjay DuttSanjay DuttSanjay Dutt is an Indian Hindi film actor and politician. Dutt, son of Hindi film actors Sunil and Nargis Dutt, made his acting debut in 1981.-Personal life:...
as Murli Prasad Sharma or "Munna BhaiMunna BhaiMunna Bhai is a series of Bollywood films directed by Rajkumar Hirani and produced by Vinod Chopra Productions. The first film is Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. , the second is Lage Raho Munna Bhai . A third film, Munnabhai Chale Amerika is still under development.-Overview:Murli Prasad Sharma is portrayed...
" - Arshad WarsiArshad WarsiArshad Warsi is an Indian actor who debuted in 1996 with the film Tere Mere Sapne which was a success but he is best known for his role as "Circuit" in the comedy films Munnabhai M.B.B.S. and Lage Raho Munnabhai and his role as Babban in Ishqiya which won him acclaim.-Early life and...
as Circuit, Munna's sidekick - Dilip PrabhavalkarDilip PrabhavalkarDilip Prabhavalkar is an Indian Marathi film and television actor. Although he has established himself as a prominent Marathi stage and movie actor for a while now, he became particularly known on the national scene for his portrayal of Mahatma Gandhi in the 2006 film, Lage Raho Munna Bhai. He...
as the image of Mahatma GandhiMahatma GandhiMohandas Karamchand Gandhi , pronounced . 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was the pre-eminent political and ideological leader of India during the Indian independence movement... - Vidya BalanVidya BalanVidya Balan is an Indian actress, who appears in Hindi films. After graduating with a degree in sociology, she started her career starring in music videos, television shows and commercials, before appearing in feature films....
as Jhanvi, radio-jockey and Munna's love-interest - Boman IraniBoman IraniBoman Irani is an Indian film and theatre actor and photographer. Irani began his acting career in theatre and moved to film in 2000 at the age of 44 with a role in Josh...
as Lucky Singh - Dia MirzaDia MirzaDia Mirza Handrich nicknamed Dee and more popularly known as Dia Mirza, is a Indian model and actress who appears in Bollywood films...
as Simran, Lucky's daughter, engaged to Sunny - Kulbhushan KharbandaKulbhushan KharbandaKulbhushan Kharbanda is an Indian actor, who worked in Hindi and Punjabi films, and is known as character Shakaal in Shaan inspired by the character of Blofeld from James Bond movies...
as Kkhurana, a wealthy but superstitious businessman - Saurabh ShuklaSaurabh Shukla-Early life:Shukla's family left Gorakhpur for Delhi when he was two years old. After completing his schooling, he did his graduation from Khalsa College, Delhi...
as Batuk Maharaj, Kkhurana's astrologer - Abhishek BachchanAbhishek BachchanAbhishek Bachchan is an Indian actor and producer. He is the son of Indian actors Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan and is married to actress and former Miss World Aishwarya Rai....
as Sunny, Kkhurana's son, engaged to Simran - Jimmy ShergillJimmy ShergillJasjit Singh Gill , popularly known as Jimmy Shergill , is an Indian actor.-Early life:Shergill was born in a Jatt Sikh family in Gorakhpur, India and studied there till 5th Grade in St. Paul's School. Then, his family shifted to Patiala...
as Victor D'Souza, who having lost his father's money, needs Munna's advice - Parikshat SahniParikshat SahniParikshit Sahni is an Indian film and television actor, who is most known for playing the lead in TV series Barrister Vinod, Gul Gulshan Gulfaam and Gaatha ....
as Victor's father - Ninad KamatNinad KamatNinad Kamat is an Indian Bollywood film actor. Some of his movies are Zabardast, Kabhi Up Kabhi Down, Shiva, Lage Raho Munnabhai, 7½ Phere, Viruddh, Dus, Parineeta, Zeher, Sangharsh, Doli Sajake Rakhna. He has also worked as a Playback Singer in Shiva and Darna Mana Hai...
as The Advocate
Influences and allusions
Rather than follow the traditional sequel format, each film in the Munna Bhai series features Munna and Circuit in a story which is comprehensive unto itself and is not continued or referred to in another film in the series. Indeed, director Rajkumar HiraniRajkumar Hirani
Rajkumar Hirani is a National Award and Filmfare Award winning Indian director, screenwriter and film editor of Hindi films, best known for the films Munna Bhai MBBS , Lage Raho Munnabhai and 3 Idiots , considered the highest-grossing Hindi film by distributor-share.-Early life and...
has compared this format to the films of Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
and Laurel and Hardy
Laurel and Hardy
Laurel and Hardy were one of the most popular and critically acclaimed comedy double acts of the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema...
, as well as to the James Bond series. Others have also likened the series to the work of Laurel and Hardy. Some, however, have negated this comparison, stating that the series is more akin to the Road to...
Road to...
Road to ... refers to a series of seven comedy films starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour. They are also often referred to as the "Road" pictures or the "Road" series. The movies were a combination of adventure, comedy, romance, and music...
"buddy films" of Bob Hope
Bob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...
and Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
. Director Rajkumar Hirani admitted that his work was deeply inspired by the films of Hrishikesh Mukherjee
Hrishikesh Mukherjee
Hrishikesh Mukherjee ) was a famous Indian film director known for a number of films, including Satyakam, Chupke Chupke, Anupama, Anand, Abhimaan, Guddi, Gol Maal, Aashirwad, Bawarchi, and Namak Haraam.Popularly known as Hrishi-da, he directed 42 films during his career spanning over four decades,...
.
Cinematic works by Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Vidhu Vinod Chopra is an Indian director and producer. Chopra is the head of his own company, Vinod Chopra Productions, and is particularly known for producing the Munna Bhai films and 3 Idiots.-Early life:Born in a Punjabi family of Kashmir,...
(such as Parineeta
Parineeta (2005 film)
Parineeta is a Bollywood musical film adaptation of the 1914 Bengali novella, Parineeta by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay. Directed by debutant Pradeep Sarkar, the film was based upon a screenplay by the film's producer, Vidhu Vinod Chopra. The film featured Vidya Balan, Saif Ali Khan and Sanjay Dutt...
) often contain allusion
Allusion
An allusion is a figure of speech that makes a reference to, or representation of, people, places, events, literary work, myths, or works of art, either directly or by implication. M. H...
s to other important films and works of music or literature. In Lage Raho Munna Bhai, Jahnavi's opening line for her radio show, "Gooooooood Moooooooorninnnng Mumbai!", resembles Robin Williams
Robin Williams
Robin McLaurin Williams is an American actor and comedian. Rising to fame with his role as the alien Mork in the TV series Mork and Mindy, and later stand-up comedy work, Williams has performed in many feature films since 1980. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance...
' opening for his radio show ("Gooooooooood morning, Vietnaaaaaaaaammm!") in the 1987 film Good Morning, Vietnam
Good Morning, Vietnam
Good Morning, Vietnam is a 1987 American comedy-drama film set in Saigon during the Vietnam War, based on the career of Adrian Cronauer, a disc jockey on Armed Forces Radio Service , who proves hugely popular with the troops serving in South Vietnam, but infuriates his superiors with what they call...
.
Social influence
The decision to include Mahatma GandhiMahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi , pronounced . 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was the pre-eminent political and ideological leader of India during the Indian independence movement...
as a central character in the film introduces, through his interactions with Munna Bhai
Munna Bhai
Munna Bhai is a series of Bollywood films directed by Rajkumar Hirani and produced by Vinod Chopra Productions. The first film is Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. , the second is Lage Raho Munna Bhai . A third film, Munnabhai Chale Amerika is still under development.-Overview:Murli Prasad Sharma is portrayed...
, important thematic concepts and ideas that draw upon the period of Colonial India
British Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
and the Indian independence movement
Indian independence movement
The term Indian independence movement encompasses a wide area of political organisations, philosophies, and movements which had the common aim of ending first British East India Company rule, and then British imperial authority, in parts of South Asia...
. Gandhi was a leader in this movement, challenging the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
's presence in India through the use of Satyagraha
Satyagraha
Satyagraha , loosely translated as "insistence on truth satya agraha soul force" or "truth force" is a particular philosophy and practice within the broader overall category generally known as nonviolent resistance or civil resistance. The term "satyagraha" was conceived and developed by Mahatma...
(non-violence). In this context, Jahnavi and Munna Bhai's non-violent protest against Lucky Singh serves as a metaphor for the Indian independence movement and the battle against the British Raj
British Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
.
The thematic attention to Gandhi's theories in Lage Raho Munna Bhai revived an interest in Gandhism
Gandhism
Gandhism is the collection of inspirations, principles, beliefs and philosophy of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi , who was a major political and spiritual leader of India and the Indian Independence Movement....
in India under the new term Gandhigiri
Gandhigiri
Gandhigiri is a relatively new term in India which is used to express the tenets of Gandhism in contemporary terms. The term became popular due to its usage in the 2006 Hindi film, Lage Raho Munna Bhai...
and "made Gandhi suddenly hip" with Indians "staging nonviolent protests, starting Web sites, handing out roses to enemies and putting on peaked white caps from the Gandhi era." Arunabha Ghosh notes, "Gandhi, the man, was once the message. In the India of the post-liberalisation brand, gandhigiri is the message." As chronicled by the International Herald Tribune
International Herald Tribune
The International Herald Tribune is a widely read English language international newspaper. It combines the resources of its own correspondents with those of The New York Times and is printed at 38 sites throughout the world, for sale in more than 160 countries and territories...
article, "Does urbanized India have room for Gandhi?" (20 September 2006):
- "The real excitement was a BollywoodBollywoodBollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
film [...] which [became] the unexpected box-office hit of the year [...] With its big Bollywood soundtrack and dance routines, the movie brings Gandhi firmly into the mainstream and theaters have been packed for the past three weeks. The Congress PartyIndian National CongressThe Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...
recommended that all party members see the film. The Delhi authorities declared that tickets to the film would be sold tax free because of its assiduous promotion of Gandhian values."
Mark Sappenfield of The Christian Science Monitor
The Christian Science Monitor
The Christian Science Monitor is an international newspaper published daily online, Monday to Friday, and weekly in print. It was started in 1908 by Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist. As of 2009, the print circulation was 67,703.The CSM is a newspaper that covers...
argues that the film was appealing because, "Gandhi gets his hands dirty. He appears as an apparition only visible to the wayward gangster, counselling him on how to help others deal with everyday problems." Swati Gauri Sharma further suggests in The Boston Globe that what the United States "needs is a film that encourages people to take up Gandhigiri, Kinggiri, or Kennedygiri
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
. If it worked for Bollywood, it could work for Hollywood."
Gandhigiri-style protests
Gandhigiri
Gandhigiri is a relatively new term in India which is used to express the tenets of Gandhism in contemporary terms. The term became popular due to its usage in the 2006 Hindi film, Lage Raho Munna Bhai...
-style protests began to take place in the United States and India. In the United States during July 2007, Aman Kapoor, founder of the Immigration Voice forum, initiated a Gandhigiri protest inspired by Lage Raho Munna Bhai. Over a three day period, hundreds of flower bouquets were sent to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services is a component of the United States Department of Homeland Security . It performs many administrative functions formerly carried out by the legacy United States Immigration and Naturalization Service , which was part of the Department of Justice...
office by Indians who were legally in the U.S. but caught in a green card
United States Permanent Resident Card
United States lawful permanent residency refers to a person's immigration status: the person is authorized to live and work in the United States of America on a permanent basis....
backlog. In response, the USCIS shipped the flowers to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center
Walter Reed Army Medical Center
The Walter Reed Army Medical Center was the United States Army's flagship medical center until 2011. Located on 113 acres in Washington, D.C., it served more than 150,000 active and retired personnel from all branches of the military...
and Bethesda Naval
National Naval Medical Center
The National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, USA — commonly known as the Bethesda Naval Hospital — was for decades the flagship of the United States Navy's system of medical centers. A federal institution, it conducted medical and dental research as well as providing health care for...
hospitals. On 17 July, the USCIS announced that "it will accept applications from foreign professionals seeking permanent residency through an expedited process, reversing its earlier decision." USCIS Director Emilio T. Gonzalez
Emilio T. Gonzalez
Emilio T. Gonzalez, Ph.D, served as the Director of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services , an Under Secretary position within the Department of Homeland Security. Appointed by President Bush and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in December 2005, Dr...
noted, "The public reaction to the July 2 announcement made it clear that the federal government's management of this process needs further review ... I am committed to working with Congress and the State Department to implement a more efficient system in line with public expectations."
There have also been a number of protests in India which were inspired by the film. Farmers staged a protest with flowers in the Vidarbha
Vidarbha
Vidarbha is the eastern region of Maharashtra state made up of Nagpur Division and Amravati Division. Its former name is Berar . It occupies 31.6% of total area and holds 21.3% of total population of Maharashtra...
region, and people who organised a protest in Lucknow
Lucknow
Lucknow is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh in India. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of Lucknow District and Lucknow Division....
claimed to have been inspired by Lage Raho Munna Bhai to use roses to convey their message. Indian Greenpeace
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
activists delivered thousands of roses to Ratan Tata
Ratan Tata
Ratan Naval Tata is the present chairman of Tata Sons and therefore, Tata Group. Also, he is one among the few in the world...
, Chairman of Tata Motors
Tata Motors
Tata Motors Limited is an Indian multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Mumbai, India. Part of the Tata Group, it was formerly known as TELCO...
, to reconsider his plans of building a port at the nesting grounds of Olive Ridley
Olive Ridley
The olive ridley sea turtle , also known as the Pacific ridley, is a species of sea turtle.- Description :The olive ridley is a small extant sea turtle, with an adult carapace length averaging 60 to 70 cm 1...
sea turtles. In Lucknow, students claimed to have been inspired by Lage Raho Munna Bhai to do volunteer work, planting trees "to conserve nature which is bound to benefit public health." The “Send Pramod Muthalik
Pramod Muthalik
Pramod Muthalik is the chief of the Rashtriya Hindu Sena, the parent organization of the Sri Ram Sena. He was born in 1963 to a Marathi family in Hukkeri in the Belgaum district of Karnataka, close to the border with Maharashtra.After the 2009 Mangalore pub attack, where women were beaten Pramod...
a Valentine’s Day card” campaign was inspired by the film. Mafia don
Indian mafia
The term Indian mafia refers to certain criminal organizations found in some of India's major cities. The "Indian Mafia" also refer to powerful families that have criminal aspects to it.- Mumbai underworld :...
Babloo Srivastava claimed to have been inspired by Lago Raho Munna Bhai to distribute roses as a "message of love and peace".
Impact
In New DelhiNew Delhi
New Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...
, on 29 January and 30 January 2007, a two-day conference (which included about 400 world leaders) to celebrate the 100th anniversary of satyagraha
Satyagraha
Satyagraha , loosely translated as "insistence on truth satya agraha soul force" or "truth force" is a particular philosophy and practice within the broader overall category generally known as nonviolent resistance or civil resistance. The term "satyagraha" was conceived and developed by Mahatma...
in South Africa was held. Partial inspiration for the conference came from Lage Raho Munna Bhai.
Lage Raho Munna Bhai also inspired a new interest in books about Gandhi. In particular, demand for Gandhi's autobiography, My Experiments with Truth increased after the film debuted, including requests from prison inmates. In addition, due to its influence, the film was made tax-free in Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
.
Production
The Munna Bhai series began after Vidhu Vinod ChopraVidhu Vinod Chopra
Vidhu Vinod Chopra is an Indian director and producer. Chopra is the head of his own company, Vinod Chopra Productions, and is particularly known for producing the Munna Bhai films and 3 Idiots.-Early life:Born in a Punjabi family of Kashmir,...
agreed to produce
Rajkumar Hirani
Rajkumar Hirani
Rajkumar Hirani is a National Award and Filmfare Award winning Indian director, screenwriter and film editor of Hindi films, best known for the films Munna Bhai MBBS , Lage Raho Munnabhai and 3 Idiots , considered the highest-grossing Hindi film by distributor-share.-Early life and...
's film Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.
Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.
Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. is a 2003 Indian comedy directed by Rajkumar Hirani and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. The story involves protagonist Munna Bhai , a goon, going to medical school. He is helped by his sidekick, Circuit . It is the first film in the popular Munna Bhai series...
when no one else would (Hirani had worked as an editor on Chopra's Mission Kashmir
Mission Kashmir
Mission Kashmir is a 2000 Bollywood film directed and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra and starring Sanjay Dutt, Hrithik Roshan, Preity Zinta and Jackie Shroff as the main characters. Mission Kashmir follows the life and tragedy of a young boy named Altaaf after his entire family gets killed by...
). They also collaborated on the script for the film. Rajkumar Hirani next began work on a film that was not related to the Munnabhai series but instead focused on a man who hallucinates about Gandhi. Hirani was in talks with Aamir Khan
Aamir Khan
Aamir Hussain Khan is an Indian film actor, director and producer who has established himself as one of the leading actors of Hindi cinema....
about the screenplay. However, after a period of time Hirani decided to combine this script with a pending sequel to Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.
Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.
Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. is a 2003 Indian comedy directed by Rajkumar Hirani and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. The story involves protagonist Munna Bhai , a goon, going to medical school. He is helped by his sidekick, Circuit . It is the first film in the popular Munna Bhai series...
and thus Khan was dropped from the project. Khan and Hirani would instead team up a few years later for Three Idiots
Three Idiots
3 Idiots is a 2009 Indian comedy film directed by Rajkumar Hirani, with a screenplay by Abhijat Joshi, and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. It was loosely adapted from the novel Five Point Someone by Chetan Bhagat. 3 Idiots stars Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor, R...
.
The sequel was initially known as Munnabhai Meets Mahatma Gandhi and was later retitled Munnabhai 2nd Innings before being given its current name. Film director and screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
Rajkumar Hirani
Rajkumar Hirani
Rajkumar Hirani is a National Award and Filmfare Award winning Indian director, screenwriter and film editor of Hindi films, best known for the films Munna Bhai MBBS , Lage Raho Munnabhai and 3 Idiots , considered the highest-grossing Hindi film by distributor-share.-Early life and...
admitted in an interview that he felt the burden of expectation while writing the screenplay for Lage Raho Munna Bhai, as he had to create "something to match" the first film. Initially there was some effort to incorporate scenes or particulars of the first film into the sequel (such as the idiosyncratic laugh of Dr. Asthana, portrayed by Boman Irani
Boman Irani
Boman Irani is an Indian film and theatre actor and photographer. Irani began his acting career in theatre and moved to film in 2000 at the age of 44 with a role in Josh...
), but the risks of repetition were then consciously averted.
One of Hirani's goals in making the film was to revive an interest in Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi , pronounced . 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was the pre-eminent political and ideological leader of India during the Indian independence movement...
, a figure whom he felt had been forgotten in contemporary India. To highlight this fact, Hirani recounted (during an interview) an incident with a chai-wallah boy (a boy who brings tea to the crew) during production:
- The boy was curious, he was a big MunnabhaiMunna BhaiMunna Bhai is a series of Bollywood films directed by Rajkumar Hirani and produced by Vinod Chopra Productions. The first film is Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. , the second is Lage Raho Munna Bhai . A third film, Munnabhai Chale Amerika is still under development.-Overview:Murli Prasad Sharma is portrayed...
fan and kept asking the name of the film. The first working title was 'Munnabhai Meets Mahatma Gandhi,' and Shantanu (Moitra, the music director) told him. So he said, 'Munnabhai to theek hai, yeh Mahatma Gandhi kaun hai?' ('Munnabhai is fine, but who is this Mahatma Gandhi?') So this is the sad state of affairs today. I was shocked. And it's not just the chai-wallah. A few days ago on TV a lot of politicians were asked India-related questions on the news channels, and I can't believe a lot of them don't know 2 October is Gandhiji's birthdayGandhi JayantiGandhi Jayanti is a National Holiday celebrated in India to mark the occasion of the birthday of Mohandas Gandhi, the "Father of the Nation." He was born on October 2, 1869. Hence Gandhi Jayanti is celebrated every year on the 2nd of October. It is one of the three official declared National...
! Many didn't know his first name. They kept saying, 'what's in a name, we respect his ideals,' but come on! How can you not know his name?
The other screenwriter, Abhijat Joshi
Abhijat Joshi
Abhijat Joshi is an Indian academic and screenwriter particularly known for his work with Vinod Chopra Productions, as the screenwriter for Lage Raho Munna Bhai and 3 Idiots...
(who currently teaches in the department of English at Otterbein College in Westerville, Ohio
Westerville, Ohio
Westerville, once known as "The Dry Capital of the World", is a city in Franklin and Delaware counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. The population was 35,318 at the 2000 census.-Early history:...
), stated that he had been conducting extensive research on Gandhi for some time, a fact which inspired producer Chopra to involve Joshi in the creation of the second Munna Bhai screenplay.
While writing the screenplay, Hirani and Joshi stayed together for more than four months. They developed scenes by going out for a walk and discussing the scene. They would not return home until they had created a scene that would make them laugh, or cry, or had some provocative thought. While there was a shortage of resources during the shooting of Munna Bhai M.B.B.S., the crew did not encounter a financial crisis during the filming of Lage Raho Munna Bhai, as the team managed to receive whatever was deemed necessary (including a Jimmy Jib, a specific kind of camera crane, just for a single crane shot
Crane shot
In filmmaking and video production a crane shot is a shot taken by a camera on a crane. The most obvious uses are to view the actors from above or to move up and away from them, a common way of ending a movie. Some filmmakers like to have the camera on a boom arm just to make it easier to move...
). The film was shot on location in and around Mumbai, with Goa
Goa
Goa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...
as a backdrop for the filming of the "Aane Charaane" song.
Only two characters—those of Munna Bhai
Munna Bhai
Munna Bhai is a series of Bollywood films directed by Rajkumar Hirani and produced by Vinod Chopra Productions. The first film is Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. , the second is Lage Raho Munna Bhai . A third film, Munnabhai Chale Amerika is still under development.-Overview:Murli Prasad Sharma is portrayed...
(portrayed by Sanjay Dutt
Sanjay Dutt
Sanjay Dutt is an Indian Hindi film actor and politician. Dutt, son of Hindi film actors Sunil and Nargis Dutt, made his acting debut in 1981.-Personal life:...
) and Circuit (portrayed by Arshad Warsi
Arshad Warsi
Arshad Warsi is an Indian actor who debuted in 1996 with the film Tere Mere Sapne which was a success but he is best known for his role as "Circuit" in the comedy films Munnabhai M.B.B.S. and Lage Raho Munnabhai and his role as Babban in Ishqiya which won him acclaim.-Early life and...
)—were retained from Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. Several actors, also from Munna Bhai M.B.B.S., appeared in Lage Raho Munna Bhai but as different characters. Vidya Balan was chosen to play the leading lady in the film as her voice was thought to be appropriate for that of a radio jockey.
The actors used several techniques to develop their characters. Arshad Warsi ("Circuit") encountered some initial problems reviving his character from the first film. On the first day of the shoot when Arshad, "said his first line, he didn't sound like Circuit at all. He sounded like Arshad Warsi speaking with an accent". Warsi admits that he had "forgotten" the character of Circuit and had to watch the DVD of Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. three times before being able to film the scene in the correct way. Sanjay Dutt ("Munna Bhai
Munna Bhai
Munna Bhai is a series of Bollywood films directed by Rajkumar Hirani and produced by Vinod Chopra Productions. The first film is Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. , the second is Lage Raho Munna Bhai . A third film, Munnabhai Chale Amerika is still under development.-Overview:Murli Prasad Sharma is portrayed...
") also confessed that he had to watch the first film eight to nine times in order to recapture the "persona" of Munna Bhai. In addition, Dutt stated in an interview that he did not read Gandhi's autobiography My Experiments with Truth
The Story of My Experiments with Truth
The Story of My Experiments with Truth is the autobiography of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, covering his life from early childhood through to 1920. It was initiated at the insistence of Swami Anand and other close co-workers of Gandhi, for him to explain the background of his public campaigns...
as a preparation for Lage Raho Munna Bhai. Rather, he comments, both his father, Sunil Dutt
Sunil Dutt
Sunil Dutt , born Sunil Balraj Dutt, was an Indian Hindi movie actor , producer, director and politician. He was the cabinet minister for Youth Affairs and Sports in the Manmohan Singh government...
(who portrays Munna Bhai's father in the first film, Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.) and his mother (the late actress Nargis
Nargis
Nargis Dutt , born Fatima Rashid but known by her screen name, Nargis, was an Indian film actress. She is widely regarded as one of the greatest actresses in the history of Hindi cinema. She made her screen debut as a child in Talash-E-Haq in 1935, but her acting carer began in 1942 with Tamanna...
) were his role models as they "were basically Gandhians. We were brought up with those values". Dilip Prabhavalkar
Dilip Prabhavalkar
Dilip Prabhavalkar is an Indian Marathi film and television actor. Although he has established himself as a prominent Marathi stage and movie actor for a while now, he became particularly known on the national scene for his portrayal of Mahatma Gandhi in the 2006 film, Lage Raho Munna Bhai. He...
, who portrays Gandhi in the film, did read Gandhi's works "once again" in order to prepare for his role. Boman Irani
Boman Irani
Boman Irani is an Indian film and theatre actor and photographer. Irani began his acting career in theatre and moved to film in 2000 at the age of 44 with a role in Josh...
prepared for the role of Lucky Singh by spending time with Sardarjis (male Sikh
Sikh
A Sikh is a follower of Sikhism. It primarily originated in the 15th century in the Punjab region of South Asia. The term "Sikh" has its origin in Sanskrit term शिष्य , meaning "disciple, student" or शिक्ष , meaning "instruction"...
s) in auto spare parts shops to research his role. Vidya Balan
Vidya Balan
Vidya Balan is an Indian actress, who appears in Hindi films. After graduating with a degree in sociology, she started her career starring in music videos, television shows and commercials, before appearing in feature films....
("Jahnavi") also met with a couple of radio jockeys and watched them at work.
Release
Screened on 10 November 2006 in the United NationsUnited Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
auditorium, Lage Raho Munna Bhai was the first Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
film to be shown at the UN. The film was introduced by Shashi Tharoor
Shashi Tharoor
Shashi Tharoor is an Indian politician and a Member of Parliament from the Thiruvananthapuram constituency in Kerala...
, UN Under-Secretary General
Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations
An Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations is a senior official within the United Nations System, normally appointed by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Secretary-General for a renewable term of four years....
for Communications and Public Information. Taran Adarsh
Taran Adarsh
Taran Adarsh is an Indian film critic, journalist, editor and film trade analyst. He is also a former producer and screenwriter. He is the son of film director and producer, B.K. Adarsh....
of Bollywood Hungama
Bollywood Hungama
Bollywood Hungama is a leading Bollywood entertainment website, owned by hungama.com....
observed that, "there was thunderous clapping at the high points of the film, like the pensioner shedding his clothes. The applause at the end of the screening was unending. A vibrant question and answer session followed with director Rajkumar Hirani, writer Abhijat Joshi and actor Boman Irani, who flew to the U.S. for the screening." The Indo-Asian News Service
Indo-Asian News Service
Indo-Asian News Service or IANS is India's largest private news agency. The IANS is run by a group of professional journalists.The IANS was founded by Indian American publisher Gopal Raju as the India Abroad News Service. It was later renamed the Indo-Asian News Service...
(IANS) also noted that, "an evening that had started with massive security arrangements in the sombre UN setting, concluded in a festive atmosphere in the lounge of the UN with diplomats from other tables joining in raising a toast for the film." The United Nations General Assembly
United Nations General Assembly
For two articles dealing with membership in the General Assembly, see:* General Assembly members* General Assembly observersThe United Nations General Assembly is one of the five principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation...
announced on 15 June 2007, that it had "unanimously adopted" a resolution which declared 2 October, the day of Gandhi's birth (Gandhi Jayanti
Gandhi Jayanti
Gandhi Jayanti is a National Holiday celebrated in India to mark the occasion of the birthday of Mohandas Gandhi, the "Father of the Nation." He was born on October 2, 1869. Hence Gandhi Jayanti is celebrated every year on the 2nd of October. It is one of the three official declared National...
, a national holiday in India) to be "the International Day of Non-Violence
International Day of Non-Violence
The International Day of Non-Violence is observed on 2 October, the birthday of Mohandas Gandhi. This day is referred to in India as Gandhi Jayanti....
".
In addition, the Prime Minister of India
Prime Minister of India
The Prime Minister of India , as addressed to in the Constitution of India — Prime Minister for the Union, is the chief of government, head of the Council of Ministers and the leader of the majority party in parliament...
, Manmohan Singh
Manmohan Singh
Manmohan Singh is the 13th and current Prime Minister of India. He is the only Prime Minister since Jawaharlal Nehru to return to power after completing a full five-year term. A Sikh, he is the first non-Hindu to occupy the office. Singh is also the 7th Prime Minister belonging to the Indian...
, was given a private screening of Lage Raho Munna Bhai. After viewing the film, he stated that it "captures Bapu's message about the power of truth and humanism." In a speech during his visit to South Africa, Singh said, "I was heartened to see recently that back home in India the most popular movie this festival season is a film about a young man's discovery of the universal and timeless relevance of the Mahatma's message." Singh announced the creation of a new Public Services Bill to combat corruption in a press release dated 17 November 2006, and cited Lage Raho Munna Bhai as one of its influences.
Lage Raho Munna Bhai was further screened at a global judiciary summit in Lucknow
Lucknow
Lucknow is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh in India. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of Lucknow District and Lucknow Division....
in December 2006. After viewing the film, Justice Kenneth Mithyane from South Africa commented, "The movie has re-enlivened the non-violence philosophy practiced by Mahatma Gandhi who continues to remain close to the hearts of the South Africans." Fatima Chouhan, a young member of the South African parliament, noted that, "'Munnabhai' will be widely appreciated in South Africa. I'm carrying a couple of video discs for my family and friends."
It was also a part of the Tous Les Cinema du Monde section of the 2007 Cannes Film Festival
2007 Cannes Film Festival
The 2007 Cannes Film Festival, the sixtieth, ran from 16 to 27 May 2007. Wong Kar-wai's My Blueberry Nights opened the festival, and Denys Arcand's The Age of Ignorance closed...
. The film was well received as the audience had lined "up in long queues to catch the film that had been strongly recommended in festival reviews [...] not one person who entered the screening left before the end of the two-hours-thirty-minutes film." In addition, "the screening of the movie at the festival saw people sitting on the aisles as the theatre was completely packed [...] there was also a big group of French students that clapped till the credits were finished."
Several universities held screenings of the film. It was shown as part of the 27 October 2006 film festival Melodramas Of Change: USC's First Indian Film Festival, organised by the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts
USC School of Cinematic Arts
The USC School of Cinematic Arts, until 2006 named the School of Cinema-Television , is a film school within the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California. It is the oldest and largest such school in the United States, established in 1929 as a joint venture with the Academy of...
. The screening was followed by a question and answer session with Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Vidhu Vinod Chopra is an Indian director and producer. Chopra is the head of his own company, Vinod Chopra Productions, and is particularly known for producing the Munna Bhai films and 3 Idiots.-Early life:Born in a Punjabi family of Kashmir,...
, Rajkumar Hirani
Rajkumar Hirani
Rajkumar Hirani is a National Award and Filmfare Award winning Indian director, screenwriter and film editor of Hindi films, best known for the films Munna Bhai MBBS , Lage Raho Munnabhai and 3 Idiots , considered the highest-grossing Hindi film by distributor-share.-Early life and...
, and Abhijat Joshi
Abhijat Joshi
Abhijat Joshi is an Indian academic and screenwriter particularly known for his work with Vinod Chopra Productions, as the screenwriter for Lage Raho Munna Bhai and 3 Idiots...
. Filmmaker Gurinder Chadha
Gurinder Chadha
Gurinder Chadha , OBE, is a British film director of Indian origin. Most of her films explore the lives of Indians living in the United Kingdom. She is best known for the hit films Bhaji on the Beach , Bend It Like Beckham , Bride and Prejudice and Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging...
also attended and spoke at the conclusion of the question and answer session. The film was also screened at Old Dominion University
Old Dominion University
Old Dominion University is a state university located in Norfolk, Virginia, United States, and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools...
on 20 March 2007 (as a part of Old Dominion University and City of Norfolk
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....
ONFilm Festival), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
Lecture Series Committee on 23 March & 24 March 2007, and Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
on 3 April 2007 (as part of a series on nonviolence
Nonviolence
Nonviolence has two meanings. It can refer, first, to a general philosophy of abstention from violence because of moral or religious principle It can refer to the behaviour of people using nonviolent action Nonviolence has two (closely related) meanings. (1) It can refer, first, to a general...
).
Critical response
Lage Raho Munna Bhai was an acclaimed film. It received strong reviews from some of India's major critics. Subhash K. Jha (film critic and author of The Essential Guide to Bollywood) argues that "Munna and Circuit, arguably cinema's most adorable and roguish reformists since Laurel and HardyLaurel and Hardy
Laurel and Hardy were one of the most popular and critically acclaimed comedy double acts of the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema...
go about the business of generating humour out of the pathos of the human condition. The sequences, all fiercely and famously 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 the movies of the new millennium." Taran Adarsh
Taran Adarsh
Taran Adarsh is an Indian film critic, journalist, editor and film trade analyst. He is also a former producer and screenwriter. He is the son of film director and producer, B.K. Adarsh....
of Bollywood Hungama
Bollywood Hungama
Bollywood Hungama is a leading Bollywood entertainment website, owned by hungama.com....
gave the film four out five stars, calling it "a sparkling example of qualitative cinema" arguing that it "not only entertains, it also enlightens." Nikhat Kazmi
Nikhat Kazmi
Nikhat Kazmi is a senior correspondent and well-known film critic from India, who has been writing for The Times of India, since 1987.-Books:* If Shakespeare was a gun: a play. Writers Workshop, 1984....
of The Times of India
The Times of India
The Times of India is an Indian English-language daily newspaper. TOI has the largest circulation among all English-language newspaper in the world, across all formats . It is owned and managed by Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd...
observes that "Vidhu Vinod Chopra gives the great Indian family one more let's-go-goodwill-hunting entertainer, even as director Raju Hirani proves that sequels needn't have the been there-done that feel..." Rajeev Masand
Rajeev Masand
Rajeev Masand is an Indian film critic and entertainment reporter for CNN-IBN. Masand started his career as an entertainment correspondent at the young age of 16...
of CNN-IBN gave it four out of five stars and states: "Like those good old-fashioned Hrishikesh Mukherjee films, it also reinforces the importance of human goodness and basic niceties. Even if you might argue that some of Gandhi's principles seem outdated today, you cannot help but cheer for Munna and his gang as they achieve the impossible with love and kindness. And that is where this film transcends conventional boundaries. It entertains you, yes, but it also makes you yearn for a perfect world. Judge it by any yardstick that you may, Lage Raho Munnabhai emerges a clear winner. Much of that credit must go to its actors who pull out all stops to make it an enjoyable ride."
Other critics liked it as well. Poonam Joshi of the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
gave the film four out of five stars stating that, "everything about this film works [...] It's rare to see a film that bounces between humour and sentiment so seamlessly. And it is rarer still to see characters become etched in the memory so enduringly that audiences become almost protective of them. It's testimony both to the quality of the writing and the performances, that Munna and Circuit have taken on a life of their own." Vinayak Chakravorty of The Hindustan Times gave the film four out of four stars stating that it "cleverly works its way around the obvious hurdle that almost all sequels face: The film recreates an original milieu without a hint of the déjà vu downer. And that precisely ranks Munna Bhai 2 as one of the best entertainers this year." He also commended the film for showing "the heights Hindi cinema can scale despite staying within its masala
Masala (film genre)
Masala is a term given to films of Indian cinema that mix various genres in one film. Typically these films freely mix action, comedy, romance, and drama or melodrama. These films tend to be musicals that include songs filmed in picturesque locations...
parameters. Lage raho, guys."
Phelim O'Neill of The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
gave the film four out of five stars noting that, "as western romantic comedies become more vapid and even stalkerish, this delivers a credible message of peace, while never forgetting to be magnificent entertainment." Shastri Ramachandaran of The Tribune
The Tribune
The Tribune is an Indian English-language daily newspaper published from Chandigarh, New Delhi, Jalandhar, Dehradun and Bathinda. It was founded on 2 February 1881, in Lahore , by Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia, a public-spirited philanthropist, and is run by a trust comprising five eminent persons as...
wrote, "True, there have been memorable films on Mahatma Gandhi by distinguished directors, namely Richard Attenborough
Richard Attenborough
Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough , CBE is a British actor, director, producer and entrepreneur. As director and producer he won two Academy Awards for the 1982 film Gandhi...
and Shyam Benegal
Shyam Benegal
Shyam Benegal is a prolific Indian director and screenwriter. With his first four feature films Ankur , Nishant Manthan and Bhumika he created a new genre, which has now come to be called the "middle cinema" in India although he himself has expressed dislike in the term preferring his work to...
;one offering a respectful cinematic acquaintance and the other being didactic but inspiring. For all their earnestness, neither film stirred the popular imagination like LRM has done now." Vaidyanathan from BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
declared that, "Lage Raho is not only as good as MBBS, but much better" calling it "a brilliant emotional roller coaster ride." Jeremy Page of The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
discussed the enormous popularity of the film upon release and noted the "serious point [the film made] about the need for tolerance, restraint and self-sacrifice."
Two of Gandhi's descendants responded positively to the film. According to Tushar Gandhi
Tushar Gandhi
Tushar Arun Gandhi is a great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, and the son of journalist Arun Manilal Gandhi.Born on a train between Mumbai and Kolkata, he was raised in the Mumbai suburb of Santa Cruz...
, Gandhi's great-grandson, it introduced the philosophies of Gandhi to a new generation, adding that "Bapu would've spoken the language of Gandhigiri if he were alive today. I really feel this film says something that needs to be told." Gandhi's grandson, Rajmohan Gandhi
Rajmohan Gandhi
Rajmohan Gandhi is a biographer and grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, and a research professor at the Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA.Gandhi's maternal grandfather was C...
thought that it was "fabulous" and commented that, "the Gandhi presented in the film was authentic. I couldn't get over the intuitive skill of the story writer in getting to the heart of this remarkable man. I must say, I was terribly impressed."
Finally, filmmaker Kabir Khan
Kabir Khan (director)
Kabir Khan is an Pathan Indian film director, screenwriter, and camera operator of documentary and Bollywood films.-Career:A graduate of Kirori Mal College, Delhi University, Khan started his career as a cinematographer for the documentary film, Beyond the Himalayas which was directed by Gautam...
cited Lage Raho Munna Bhai as a model film for him as it "had an issue, but it was never once in your face. Rajkumar Hirani
Rajkumar Hirani
Rajkumar Hirani is a National Award and Filmfare Award winning Indian director, screenwriter and film editor of Hindi films, best known for the films Munna Bhai MBBS , Lage Raho Munnabhai and 3 Idiots , considered the highest-grossing Hindi film by distributor-share.-Early life and...
kept it all so subtle and yet conveyed the message so well. It was as commercial as it gets and audiences too were thoroughly entertained. That's the way to make movies because it not just made all parties happy but also had a satisfied director at the end of it all."
Other critics offered more negative reviews. Ajit Duara argues in The Hindu
The Hindu
The Hindu is an Indian English-language daily newspaper founded and continuously published in Chennai since 1878. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, it has a circulation of 1.46 million copies as of December 2009. The enterprise employed over 1,600 workers and gross income reached $40...
that "the accomplished cultural sophistication and political genius of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi has to be dumbed down to the astoundingly moronic levels of 'Lage Raho Munnabhai' " and S. Ganesh in Economic and Political Weekly
Economic and Political Weekly
The Economic and Political Weekly is a left-leaning Indian magazine published from Mumbai by the Sameeksha Trust, a charitable trust. The magazine was first published in 1949 as the Economic Weekly and since 1966 was re-christened the Economic and Political Weekly. It was edited by Krishna Raj...
adds that the film "trivialises Gandhi: history as farce." Filmmaker Jahnu Barua
Jahnu Barua
Jahnu Barua is a multiple national and international award-winning Indian film director from Assam. He has directed a number of Assamese and Hindi films, and along with Bhabendra Nath Saikia was one of the pioneers of Assamese Art cinema...
was also critical of the film, stating that, "Gandhian philosophy is serious business and Lage Raho Munna Bhai is not the right way to show it." Jug Suraiya of The Times of India
The Times of India
The Times of India is an Indian English-language daily newspaper. TOI has the largest circulation among all English-language newspaper in the world, across all formats . It is owned and managed by Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd...
wrote, "thanks to Munnabhai, at best what exists of Gandhism is Gandhigiri, a watered down, Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People version of the original."
Box office
Lage Raho Munna Bhai was the third top grossing BollywoodBollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
film of 2006, according to boxofficeindia.com, earning Rs
Indian rupee
The Indian rupee is the official currency of the Republic of India. The issuance of the currency is controlled by the Reserve Bank of India....
69.97 crore
Crore
A crore is a unit in the Indian number system equal to ten million , or 100 lakhs. It is widely used in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan....
s (699 million) net gross in India alone (and has also been rated a "Blockbuster"). It was also financially successful overseas, earning Rs 7 crores (70 million) gross in the United Kingdom, Rs 10.25 crores (102 million) gross in North America, and Rs 4.25 crores (42 million) gross for the rest of the overseas proceeds.
Accolades
Lage Raho Munna Bhai is the recipient of four National Film AwardsNational Film Awards
The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it is administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directorate of Film Festivals since 1973.Every year, a national panel...
and four awards for Best Film/Critics Best Film (Filmfare Critics Award for Best Movie
Filmfare Critics Award for Best Movie
The Filmfare Awards are the oldest and most prominent film awards given for Hindi films in India. The yearly awards started in 1953. Movie awards were first given by popular vote...
, Bollywood Movie Award - Best Film
Bollywood Movie Award - Best Film
The winners are listed below:-...
, GIFA Best Film, Star Screen Award Best Film
Star Screen Award Best Film
The Star Screen Award Best Film is chosen via a distinguished panel of judges from the Indian "Bollywood" film industry. The winners are announced in January.The winners are listed below:-...
). It also won a number of other awards including best story and best dialogue in several award ceremonies. Some speculated that it would represent India as an entry for the 2007 Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. Although ultimately losing to Rang De Basanti
Rang De Basanti
Rang De Basanti is a 2006 Indian drama film written and directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra. It features an ensemble cast comprising Aamir Khan, Soha Ali Khan, Madhavan, Kunal Kapoor, Siddharth Narayan, Sharman Joshi, Atul Kulkarni and British actress Alice Patten in the lead roles...
as India's official submission, the film's producers submitted it as an independent entry. However, neither film received an Oscar nomination.
Home media
The British DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
of Lage Raho Munna Bhai contains a bonus DVD which has a 98-minute 5-part documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
on the making of the film, interviews with members of the cast and crew, and information on the creation of the song and dance numbers. It also has a special feature called "Munna
Munna Bhai
Munna Bhai is a series of Bollywood films directed by Rajkumar Hirani and produced by Vinod Chopra Productions. The first film is Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. , the second is Lage Raho Munna Bhai . A third film, Munnabhai Chale Amerika is still under development.-Overview:Murli Prasad Sharma is portrayed...
meets Bapu."
Lage Raho Munnabhai - The Original Screenplay was released in December 2009. Published by Om Books International in association with Vinod Chopra Films, it was launched at an event with the original cast and crew from the film. The text includes an introductory note by Abhijat Joshi
Abhijat Joshi
Abhijat Joshi is an Indian academic and screenwriter particularly known for his work with Vinod Chopra Productions, as the screenwriter for Lage Raho Munna Bhai and 3 Idiots...
which details the drafting of the screenplay. It also includes a number of stills from the film as well as character profiles.
Soundtrack
Swanand KirkireSwanand Kirkire
Swanand Kirkire is an Indian lyricist, playback singer, writer, also a television serial writer, assistant director, dialogue writer, both in television and Hindi films.Kirkire won the National Film Award for Best Lyrics twice...
won the National Film Award for Best Lyrics
National Film Award for Best Lyrics
The National Film Award for Best Lyrics winners:Vairamuthu won the award for maximum number of times . Javed Akhtar is the only lyricist to win the award for three consecutive years .-References:...
in 2007 for the song "Bande Mein tha Dum."
External links
- Lage Raho Munna Bhai at Bollywood HungamaBollywood HungamaBollywood Hungama is a leading Bollywood entertainment website, owned by hungama.com....
- Lage Raho Munna Bhai at Rediff.comRediff.comRediff.com India is a news, information, entertainment, and shopping portal. It was founded in 1996 as "Rediff On The NeT" and is headquartered in Mumbai, India with offices in New Delhi and New York City, USA....