lage raho munnabhai review

September 24th, 2006

Lage Raho Munnabhai ….. really , i mean what a rage it has been in Bollywood. I will be frank, I like feel good movies and i like comedy movies. If a movie is just feel good, like K3G … after a while it sucks of when you see it the 2nd or 3rd time, you feel like maybe the critics were right …. its too sugar coated. If a movie is just comedy , ummm lets see, like those hritesh deshmukh , anupam kher, govinda movies you seem to forget them after a while, or or the lines become to slapstick to mention on a outside the context ( of the movie) discussion. But a movie like Lage Raho Munnabhai …. which has the right propotion of feelgood and comedy …. they tend to make a scratch on your brain …. now that was a character or that was a film you could watch over and over and still not get bored by the same jokes.

The story of Munnabhai returns with half the cast as before , which includes of course Sanjay Dutt, who is aging like old wine, Arshad Warsi in the role of Circuit , now Sarkeshwar , who is finally doing roles which uses his proper potential, Bomman Irani … an actor who should be awarded with a single adjective … Variety…. period. apart from this, add to the team the cute and bubbly Vidya Balan, who i peronally feel wll have better staying power than the likes of Diya Mirza ( who incidentally is also in the movie) or the Munnabhai MBBS heroine, Gracy Singh. 2 more important face but less important character is played by Abhisekh Bachhan and Jimmy Shergil.

Bollywood movies have always been made depicting corruption in India , importance of family values , boy girl romance and win of good over bad in the end …. so whats different this time ? Pausing for the dramatic effect, let me add the keyword used by the makers of this movie ……..”They are back , and they are not alone !! ”
This guy on the left comes to the aid of Munnabhai . Personally i felt it was a awesome touch …. a few years back Indian directors would have feared to use such trump cards as critiques might have said , it was very tasteless to use ” the Father of the Nation” in cahoots with a gangster, mawali type character as Munna bhai. But not today , Indian viewers are quite liberal and probably enjoy something out of the formula , which still comes out of YSF or a David Dhawan.

As I was saying in the begining , Bollywood movies has always been about Corruption in India , importance of Family values, boy girl romance, but this time the key player in solving all the problems this time was not the screen hero ( Sanjay Dutt or even Munnabhai ) but Mohan Das Karam Chand Gandhi and his path . Be it in deciding a suitable suitor for a 21 year old girl , or breaking down a kickbacks taking government official, rekindling the feeling of ‘love thy neighbor” Bapu was the shining ray of light for our rejuvenated hero , the villains in the movie and hopefully , will be for millions of Indians.

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