Lage Raho...

Of late, I realize that the only blogging I do with any dilchasbi is movie reviews! And yeah yeah, I realize I am a good amount of time late... But I had to dispense my visesh tippani on the movie having caught it an entire month late...

With soo many phenomenal claims about the movie, the expectations were sky high and I must say it did not disappoint one bit. Munnabhai and Circuit are right on track with the sequel to the legendary Munnabhai MBBS. I did not watch a cheap version on Freesports simply because I didn't want to ruin the experience for me and after a failed trip to Indianapolis a month ago (we were wrongly informed on the internet that it was running in this remote multiplex) to try and catch the movie on the big screen, I was determined to wait some more till the DVD (or a rip) came out. And then came the opportunity, all golden... Sachin's birthday, a wonderful downloaded version, boasting to be better than the theatrical experience itself, at where else, but 427 ERC, our very own fashioned kutti theatre.

Most of the cast of the movie is very familiar. The movie itself, rolls out on a similar note of what seemed like an extortion with Circuit executing it as the henchman of Munnabhai, who is the same old dada... and this sequel doesn't pick up where the original left. Munna is not married to Gracy nor is there a Short Circuit in picture. They are very much single and ready to mingle... Ofcourse they had to create some space to introduce the very appealing Vidhya Balan somewhere. And Boman Irani is back again (without him Munnabhai wouldnt be what he (it) is). This time he is a Punju Sardarji and a businessman, with a mildly evil business-oriented mind.

Unlike its prequel, for the lack of a better word, this movie comes with a theme, woven delicately in the background. There is a Baapu (Gandhiji) sentiment interweaved with the workings of the human psyche. And just when there was some disbelief on my part to think that the movie had some supernatural effect to it with Munna being able to see Baapu and communicate the Gandhian ideas to the world, they revealed that he was really just a hallucination created by his own psyche. The scene where this was revealed was dealt with quite brilliantly and jars you to the reality that this is.

Also, making an appearance once more are a few other familiar faces like Jimmy Shergil, our Dr. Rustum, Pappa and the others all in tiny li'l cameos, effective and comical. Vidhya has done a good job and has a role fairly equal to what Gracy boasted in the previous movie. This movie had its share of sentiments and "touching scenes" as well... one being notably when Circuit and Munna share a heavy moment laden with tears and sentiments, very uncharacteristic of the pair and leaving the audience a little uncomfortable.

All in all, with a brilliat screenplay, great dialogues, excellent cast, and terrifically-timed comedy, this movie had the sure-shot formula for instant success. And few things could go wrong.

So, Lage Raho Munnabhai!