Lage Raho Rajubhai!!!!!!!!!!

Manager's (a.k.a Mihir kanakia) take on Lage Raho Munnabhai and the message it encapsulates.

Why Rajubhai;alias Rajkumar Hirani? Well.he is the real hero of Munnabhai Lage Raho.It is HE who has brought to the fore,a movie which has delivered entertainment like an art movie but still maintaining the status of a mainstream bollywood movie(almost).Well usually the load of making serious movies with meaningful stories with a so called message or learning ,lies on the shoulders of ray's & jha's of the directors guild.But the problem with such movies is that they are very clearly classified as "art movies" which are generally not patronized by a large audience,which in fact,tends to defeat the whole purpose of taking such concepts to the general public ,as such.Needless to say,they hardly make any economic sense, with the entertainment value for most viewers,restricted to the acting brilliance of the likes of devgan's,the sen's & the shah's.

Rajubhai,however has used the same characters,continuing his endeavour to drive home the most obviuos but simple truths of our lives and our frustrating events around it. It again throws light on the fact that we leave so many oppurtunities to learn and improve our standards of living,generally defined as 'material' standards of living and not the quality of our thoughts,our acts and the way we conduct ourselves in the continuous cycle of life.Categorising this movie as a comedy would be not only be unfair but also undermine the underlying message of the movie-Gandhigiri.One must appreciate and realize that till now doing Gandhigiri was being unnecessarily honest,naive and impractical as per the current times.But suddenly,Gandhigiri sounds quite practical and correct,as a policy to get our way,without having to use any real diplomacy,contacts,favours as the tools....and hilariuos at it!!! The best proof about the directorial excellence is the fact that it has all been brought forward in a very light and jovial fashion and the apparent serious irony of Munnabhai & Circuit(read as a difficulty faced by any lay person) comes across very straight.The breakthrough solutions to our life using Gandhism look quite achievable without going thru the usual but inappropriate(in the long term) short cuts which tend to add to our woes,more often then not.Being altruistic in fact ,looks more enjoyable and satisfying then being selfish.

So what really is this Gandhigiri. I have read the autobiography- "My Story of Experiments With Truth" of Gandhi and he says-"My life is my message" Thats the beauty of Gandhigiri.Its tried & proven as the means of self purification by following the path of 'Truth' as the only religion...its an infallible means of leading a simple but ideal way of thinking.What Rajkumar Hirani has done,is make this fact relevant in todays times with the kind of problems we face "now".It manages to depict some of our day to day issues. Munnabhai's struggle with getting over truth and become humble while apologizing to Circuit,depicts how effortlessly we hurt our own loved ones but still need a lot of effort to realize and reverse that.The typical mumbaikars life which starts with putting the earphones on and listening to their favourite RJ's who fill the vacant gaps of any major inactivity, like travelling.The mild attempt at hinting that irrespective of age and stage of life,one must nurture his or her dream.The end result is not as important as the journey towards achieving that dream...the oldies from the 2nd Innings House did prove that life is but a mix of various innings and the game continues till the time you want it to.. All this along with 'Lucky' as the character which resembles one of the most common breed of selfish people(not too hard to find) who can ignore and walk over the others well being,blinded by their vested interests.Most importantly,here it may be observed that a character like Munnabhai can in fact meet such 'Lucky's' with 'tit-for-tat' policy but holds to test Gandhi's way of dealing,ie.to hit and solve the problem where it started,the heart & mind of Lucky.Its the same story of all of us..it inspires us to try this path with the key ingredients of patience,determination and genuine intention.It shows that if the motive is righteous,then these ingredients will make a good recipe to meet our problems face to face.One needs to distinguish here between philosophy and pragmatism but at the same time realize that in fact both of these go hand in hand .....BUT one must try.One may never know if it can work unless one tries and persists..and as suggested in the movie,enjoy it!

Lage Raho Munnabhai is one of its kind and it deserves its praise and appreciation for once again touching upon the possibility ,of finding the most coveted and sought after feelings of joy,happiness & probably solutions to our miseries and problems....within.How...?By being true to yourself and enjoy the process.Rajubhai has very wonderfully shown that 'It is only through experience of trial & suffering can the soul be strengthened,ambition inspired and success achieved."

All I can ask for is more of such thought provoking and motivating "acts" to encourage us to reflect and attempt an approach,that can & will improve our lives manifold.

That's why I started with ~Lage Raho Rajubhai!!!!!!!!!!

Best Regards,

Mihir