Munna Meets Mahatma

"I'm back" says our Desi Arni aka sanju baba aka Munnabhaai & guess what ?? Circuit is there too to take us all on a "journey of a lifetime"(fitting, despite of being such a cliche).
Last Saturday ,I finally watched Lagey Raho Munnabhai (LRM) & I admit I was late in doing so.Reason being no time and no tickets on weekends so typical of Bangalore(in Munnabhai lingo ,"Timeich nahin tha apun ke paas aur uper se Ticket ka much much).Lucky as I always am(no pun intended),I got a ticket for the 10 PM show.I was a little concerned about getting back home at such late hour after the movie..but anything for Munnabhai :-)

Now something abt the movie : wonderful script,brilliant direction,outstanding performances(Circuit still rulz !!) and overall an honest effort to make a good movie.Is it better than Munnabhai MBBS ??..well I guess any such comparisons will be unfair.They both are different movies ..wonderful in their own ways.Nonetheless both are result of dedicated ,genuine and honest hard work.

When you work hard and honest, it shows and when you pay fashion designer and stylists you end up with KANK(Can't hold my disgust over that piece of crap any longer).2006 has been a good year for Bollywood.Both in terms of revenues and in terms of good movies(mind you,there is no correlation between the two).So far we have seen movies like RDB,Omkara,"Krissh"(no eyebrow raising here, please ;-) ).I am not counting FANAA and KANK ,because they were hit more because of the pre-release hoopla they generated and less because of their being any good .Both movies were crappy and dull like a silver fish in an old book.I mean how many times do we have to bear SRK stuttering to say 'Sh**' before we die with frustration ?

Now after leaving all this 'critique'(big word..nahin ?) behind and forgiving me for a digression let me tell you honestly & loudly,I loved LRM.We laughed at Circuit and Munna's evergreen repartee,paid attention to meaningful(beautiful too) words of the old Mahatma, felt morose with the old men's troubles of the old age,felt cheered up with them when Muna came to their rescue and before we knew ..the show was over.It was magic.Magic of simplicity, honesty and of a benevolent desire to tell us something we don't want to know.LRM is a good movie ,but what makes it a great movie is its attempt to reincarnate Gandhian values.Gandhi is 'KOOL' again.Munna is again the Mr.Fix-it-all,but this time no ghoda(gun), no connmanship and no lies, just the good ol' values of love and truth.

All the solutions to our problems are very simple and staight in the face, it is our refusal to see them that makes them so complex.In the words of Rishikesh Mukherjee,"It is so simple to be difficult,but it is so difficult to be simple". Baapu just reiterates this simple truth to us in LRM.LRM doesn't preaches, it just reopens the age old debate of Violence v/s non'violence.It does not passes any verdict rather it tells a sweet story of a gold-hearted goon dabbling with gandhian values. But you learn something along the way, atleast feel that Gandhi wasn't as outdated as we like to think.

So simple are these values, you commit a mistake ,say sorry and MEAN IT.Speak the truth ,it is the real shortcut to whatever you want.Be Honest.Isn't that something we already know.But it is the hardships of growing up that made us oblivious to the goodness(or badness) of these values.Take it easy and sab chalta hai is our attitude.I guess we learnt very fast and unlearn these simple things even faster.

Gandhi is not outdated.It's us who have chosen the seemingly easier and wrong path.It is our inablity to withstand against the corruption that is very in'dated' but it is leading us all to a precarious situation. Even I am feeling a little guilty while writing these lines.Am I any more true to Gandhian values than you ?? Well...my mortified conscience won't be able to answer this embarrasing question.Still the answer is out there ...blowing in the wind.But I suspect if anybody else is in better situation than me .We are all the same and that's such a pity.

Does LRM serves any higher purpose than making money for its producer and tickling some of our funny bones ?? Maybe yes ,maybe no..but if it stimulates you enough to even read or to know more about Gandhi and his ideology....Then I bet it does.

I have seen the movie...and now I m looking forward to read a book called 'My experiments with truth " by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.I am certain now ..it will be worth it.

stay beautiful !! [Orkut.com's signature ..but I guess I can use it without any copyright issues...
:-) ]

PS:
On a lighter note,Vidya Balan looks like a million bucks as always.I couldn't help feeling a little lost when she was onscreen.

Ah ! the same old inexplicable mystique of female beauty (...sigh...)

Sing Song

Once upon a time, we used to sing a song ,
In the morning assembly, with the sound of a gong.

we hardly knew what it meant,and never did we care,
everybody sang it ,nobody was spared.

'Hail the motherland' it said, all that we knew.
nobody objected ,neither me nor you.

Some of us sang it,some simply stood,
we weren't bothered if it was for bad or for good.

when the assembly broke ,we ran for the game,
and again as usual we became all the same.

Nobody was applauded for the way he sang,
and everybody of us was just one simple gang.

I see it now ,we were such a fool,
That song wasn't a song but it was a tool.

it will tell us who love the country and how much is his love
and care not for a moment ,if it kills the white dove.