A Most Beautiful Feel Good Movie. Review on Lage Raho Munnabhai

Although Mr. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi,aka Bapujileft for his eternal abode some sixty years ago, his spirit has been recreated to an amazing effect in this movie. The background, the sets, theme, acting, music and above all, the "Feel Good Factor" of this movie instantly win the hearts of most of the viewers of this film.

I had seen the earlier film on Munnabhaiand had felt good, but this film appeared to me to be way ahead of not only that film but most others seen during the last decade or so. The concept of the film perfectly matches with the enactment. So much so, that rarely does a viewer feel different from the protagonist himself. Sanjay Dutt (even at an age nearing fifty!) is not only lovable, but he enacts a normal human-being of sweat and blood. The scientific explanations of his hallucination are very apt and show the unbiassed nature of story telling by the Director, who incidentally happens to be originator of the concept as well. Dilip Prabhawalkar, as Gandhiji, has fully lived upto his role. So did Arshad Warsi, Vidya Balan, Boman Irani, Diya Mirza, Saurabh Shukla, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Abhishek Bachchan and all the senior and elderly actors in the film.

The music also strikes a very familiar tune with us since they all seem to come from our own hearts. Shantanu Moitra scores a very strong point in this film, after his monumentally successful music in "Parineeta". Many of his compositions reminded us of the good old days of haunting melodies, especially the one with Bande Mataram as the punch word.

Before I conclude, I think mentioning about a couple of flaws will not be out of place. Firstly, why was no Helmet seen to be worn by our Hero or his friend during their rides on the bike (or, is it because it was a TRIKE?). Secondly, WORLDSPACE Radio is still to become as popular amongst the masses as was depicted in the film. It is so because the broadcast is received through satellite and is available to the listener only through a paid subscription. It is quite unlikely that this format of radio listening will overtake normal (FM/ AM) radios, especially in the near future. So, the likelihood of the so called deprived section of Mumbai getting up with the "Goooood Mor..............rning Mumbai" did not appear to me to be very authentic.

All in all, at the end of the film, I felt really very good in watching a movie which had all positive messages but packaged so well thrugh a free flowing narration that at no stage it appeared artificial or cooked up.

I sincerely congratulate Raj Kumar Hirani, and all the artistes and technicians of the film for bringing out a wonderful package of value added entertainment.

I sincerely hope that many more movies of this nature will follow, since even by all commercial standards this film has created a niche for itself.