Enkayaar, Bollywood Trade News Network

There has been thinking in some intellectual circles that LAGE RAHO MUNNA BHAI has trivialized Gandhi, and has tried to project history as a farce. This attempt is being made as the intellectuals probably have failed in their attempt to broad-band the outreach of Gandhi is such an effective a manner as has been done by a LAGE RAHO MUNNA BHAI.

Some facts speak for themselves. The literature pertaining to Gandhi that has been sold after the release of the film has been phenomenal and it has brought Gandhi back to the reach of the common public in an effable manner, which an intellectual is incapable of, living as he is in the hallowed ivory towers of his so-called mental faculty.

It is owing to the release and the success of the movie that a University in Saurashtra has decided to offer a six-month course on Gandhigiri, which would be one of its kinds courses on offer by institute or an agency that is not died in the Gandhian ideology. Then does it convert history into farce? On the contrary, this attempt of fine-tuning the ideologies to the needs and demands of the time increases the acceptability of the same. Gandhi has been rediscovered, and his ideologies are being studied with interest and this is a feat that so many Gandhian institutes and other such related august bodies could not do for so many years on end. And they have also acknowledged the same, that advent of LAGE RAHO MUNNA BHAI has indeed been a Manna from the heaven for Gandhian ideology.

This had happened in the case of SWADES when Ashutosh Gowarikar had made the film, and the critics as it being too romantic, had scoffed it at and that successful professionals would not return to serve the country, but a reality check was never made as to how many professionals returned and made a success of their return, and the success has been such that it can be another film. How many of these intellectuals are aware that Ashutosh had invited applications for working on augmentation of water supplies and other related areas in interiors of Maharashtra by creating a SWADES fellowship.

Even on a low key, the new breed of filmmakers are trying in their own manner to adhere to the issues and work for the causes that they espouse through their movies and this attempt needs to be encouraged, instead of being critical about it under the pretext that these kind of interferences fall in a domain which is reserved only for intellectuals.