Not a sequel, nor a prequel, “Lage Raho Munnabhai” (aka Munnabhai Meets Mahatma Gandhi) is an uplifting equal. Munna & Circuit, the lovable thug & his yes-can-do sidekick return from their original iconic outing (Munnabhai MBBS) for another roller-coaster of a comedy that you will not forget for days to come.

Multi-hyphenate Rajkumar Hirani & producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra are a bunch of smart cookies – they did not revisit the same sets as the original (the downside associated with such sequels are legendary), but in fact have cut and pasted the crowd-pleasing duo (with their personalities in tact) on to a different board (a la “A Fish Called Wanda” & “Fierce Creatures”. This also allowed them to bypass the terribly unbecoming Gracy Singh from the original in favour of the fantastic Vidya Balan). Most of the other actors from the original return in various avatars for the second innings. The results are simply terrific!

LRM has Boman Irani as an unscrupulous building contractor Lucky Singh, who has Munnabhai & Circuit on his payroll to do his unlawful biddings. One such errand involves clearing out a bungalow full of elderly bunch who are being taken care of by a lovely radio jockey Jhanvi (Vidya Balan). In a twist of fate, Jhanvi is the voice that Munnabhai is besotted with to the point where he lies that he is a history professor specializing in Mahatma Gandhi. That lie costs him hours at a monumental library soaking up details of the great pacifist leader, as a result of which Munna starts seeing Gandhi in person. The father of the nation begins imparting him his experiements with truth which Munna heartily implements to often hilarious effect.

The diamond maybe flawed, but it is brilliant nonetheless. Few clichéd & teary-eyed moments do not alter the film’s ingenuity which is transplanting familiar characters into a new setting while retaining the core spirit of the original, a simple narrative is employed for a complex storyline, film is played to the galleries & the intelligentsia alike dishing out philosophical musings with considerable charm without going overboard on the preachiness or the ham-factor (two things that usually plague a cocktail of this ilk). Points about country’s state, corruption, superstition, blind faith in astrologers and gurus etc are all put across emphatically with tongue firmly in cheek.

Sanjay Dutt is flawless as Munnabhai, the short-fused goon with a heart as big as a crop circle. Arshad Warsi has been given wider exposure, and he doesn’t disappoint. His rapid fire quips and solutions-per-second antics keeps the crowd in splits. Matching them in beauty and talent is the bewitching Vidya Balan. Dilip Prabhavalkar as Mahatma Gandhi is serviceable. Only Boman Irani disappoints as the scheming Lucky Singh, as his histrionics sometimes take a plunge in river camp.

Writer-editor-director Rajkumar Hirani is in complete control of the project and technically well experienced. His creative envisioning of a pedestrian song “samjho ho hi gaya” that converts the drab surroundings into a brilliantly lit wedding set in a blink of an eye (without ever calling attention to itself) speaks volumes of his expertise in all the machinations of filmmaking. With people like Hirani, there is hope yet for Bollywood.

RUNTIME: 130 Mins.

CAST: Sanjay Dutt, Arshad Warsi, Vidya Balan

DIRECTOR: Rajkumar Hirani