A Season for Non Violence and Lage Raho Munna Bhai

Last night I attended a planning meeting at our city hall for the annual conference to celebrate The Season for Non Violence advocated by the United Nations between the death anniversaries of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King. As an added "bonus" we, here in California, added Cesar Chavez too to that august list. One thing that struck me was when one of the presenters was talking about how the message of these people is not to be remembered for a day or two in a year, rather is to be adopted in the way we live our lives in a day-to-day manner. That reminded one of Lage Raho Munnabhai.

After a long wait for the movie to come out in DVD, we watched Lage Raho Munnabhai last week. The unfortunate mistake we made was that we watched Munna Bhai MBBS before watching this film. The two are totally different genres! While the first one was totally solid in comedy, the second had a serious undertone to it throughout that could not be missed.

I shall essay to review this film on its own merits without any comparison to the previous one. That said, the first thing that hit me in the film was the richness color. It reminded me for some reason of Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani. Honestly, I am quite a sucker for these "patriotic" fillums. My family would tease me by calling me "Mere desh ki dharti" as I would get all senti with that old Manoj Kumar song! As an added bonus, it also had the Mahatma in it- one of my role models.

As much as the film tried to keep from being "preachy", I think it is a "be the change" kinda film that Swades was a few years ago and cannot help but be that, here and there. Further, the content of the film could have been further reduced to one theme than juggle the two: the "return of the Mahatma spirit" and homes for the aged. As for the casting, dewey-eyed Vidya Balan opposite world weary Munna Sanjay Bhai was a bit much of a contrast. The music score was so forgettable that I cant think of any to write on that "score"!

Whatever the downside of market economies, there is certainly more unusual scripts coming out of Bollywood thanks to all that dough in the market. I doubt RK Laxman's "Common Man" will be bothered about Gandhian principles being in vogue or not (he lives by those precepts instinctively anyways), the yuppie, urban crowd appears to have embraced a Gandhi with a Market-economy conscience- the best of both worlds: Have your latte and recycle that paper cup!