Yesterday, I with my parents and wife watched the next instalment of "Lage raho Munnabhai" on the IMAX screen at Hyderabad's Prasadz theatre. Its another very good film that has come out this year. I liked "Rang de basanti" for the message of "Do something for your contry rather than just whining" but while it went over the top in the manner in which youngsters went about it, Munnabhai extols Gandhism without ever being preachy. The relevance of Gandhiji in today's world and how "Gandhigiri" could be used to solve today's day-to-day problems is brought out very nicely. The film also has a jingle of a remade version of the "Jaagriti" classic "aao bachcho.n tumhe dikhaaye.n" which takes my mind to Hemant Kumar's top-notch and evergreen music in that 1955 classic.
The literal Gandhiji-anthem was the most popular song at the time - the Asha rendered "de dii hame aazaadii". Asha also had the soft, melancholic "chalo chale.n maa.N". Rafi sang the climax song beholding the children to create a new and happy India.. "ham laaye hai.n tuufaan se". And to round off the track, Pradeep's afore-mentioned song "aao bachcho.n tumhe dikhaaye.n jhaa.Nkhii hi.ndustaan kii". Pradeep also wrote the lyrics for all the songs in the film. Abhi Bhattacharya delivered an excellent performance as the reformist teacher and should have won the Best Actor award that year but for Filmfare's reluctance to look beyond stars. Dilip Kumar won the award for an ordinary turn in "Aazaad".
"Lage raho Munnabai" captures the spirit of "Jaagriti" and Gandhiji very nicely. Full credit to the director for such a very innovative and refreshing use of Gandhiji and bringing back Gandhiji's relevance into our India of today.
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