Lage Raho Munnabhai – Total Paisa Vasool

The last time a movie left me wanting for more was when I saw Sholay around thirteen years back. And the same surreal feeling came back to me last night as I was walking out of Eros Cinema in downtown Mumbai, having watched the evening show of Lage Raho Munnabhai. Guess till this movie is playing will keep watching it every couple of days. To those who are waiting to watch this movie, first things first, “bheja bahar rakh ke jaane ka mamu”. And if that’s a difficult proposition then just wait for “Bas Ek Pal”, with all it’s complexities about modern day relationships, that’s the right movie for you.

Also, kindly do not watch this movie in a Multiplex. Coz there you wont be able to laugh to your heart’s content as you run the risk of people turning around and looking at you every time you start laughing from the bottom of your stomach. This is a movie to be watched in a big theatre, preferably from the lower stalls with all the ghatis and the bhaiyas, who have no pretensions about laughing their hearts out. And do join in.

The second movie in the Munnabhai series ( its not a sequel) retains only two characters of the original ( I need not tell you who they are). This movie as did the first starts with a kidnapping with “ Subah ho gayee mamu” playing in the background. But this time the emphasis is on “Ek kahani khatam hui to doojee shuru ho gayee mamu”. With this sequence the similarity with the first film ends.

This time we have Mahatma Gandhi, joining Munna and Circuit. Imagine, Munna, Circuit and the Mahatma himself. Munna can see the Mahatma, Circuit cannot, but he pretends that he can, because “Bhai” sees him. And to support them is Vidya Balan who has an amazing screen presence, playing the role of the radio jockey Jhanvi. And our man Munna is in love with Jhanvi.

On October 2nd, the dry day, Jhanvi is hosting a quiz show on Mahatma Gandhi. Circuit rounds up all the history professors he can lay his hands on with whose help Munnabhai wins the quiz contest and gets to meet Jhanvi. And so starts Munna’s story like everything else with a woman, in a city and a little bit of luck ( as Shantaram would have said). From the moment Munna meets Jhanvi the movie is a laugh minute riot till the interval.

Before the interval, the “Second Innings house” where Jhanvi stays with her grandfather and six of his friends live, is captured by a builder Lucky Singh ( Bomaan Irani in a fantastic role. His best after Being Cyrus). And the rest of the movie is about how “ Munna” does Gandhigiri ( well isn’t that the right opposite to Dadagiri) to make Lucky realize his mistake. All along he is helped by Mahatma Gandhi whom he can see because of some “ chemical ka locha”. Never mind the silliness of it all. Isn’t there enough real life in real life?

To me the “paisa vasool” scene of the movie was when Jhanvi during the course of the quiz contest asks Munna, “ Mahtama Gandhi ka kitne bache the aur unke naam kya the?” (or something to that effect). And one of Munna’s hangers on takes a guess. “ Indira Gandhi aur Rajiv Gandhi”. Funny? Of course. And at the same time a brilliant comment on our times where in people have forgotten the Mahatama and associate him with the Nehru – Gandhi family. To the uninitiated Indira’s husband Feroze Gandhi was originally Feroze Ghandy. Over the years Ghandy became Gandhi. He and Indira did understand the power of Mahatama’s name.

Now back to the movie. The script is an original. And not a DVD ripoff that Bollywood specializes in. Written by a USA based academic Abhijit Joshi and Rajkumar Hirani with a little help from the producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra, it clearly shows what originality can do to a movie. And the best part of it all, it’s a movie without any pretensions, unlike KALANK ( oops KANK) that came before it.

I seriously hope, the producers have plans to a make third movie. Guess even its half as good as the two before it, it would be a total Paisa Vasool.