‘Gandhigiri just a passing fad’

Lucknow, October 1: THE ‘Gandhigiri’ of Lage Raho Munna Bhai might have failed to move the state government to make it tax-free but it has found more favour among the people here than any other idea of late.

So, what exactly is ‘Gandhigiri’, the notion that made even dreaded underworld don Babloo Srivastava to recently extend the olive branch, and flowers? Newsline checked with the city’s intellectual and academic community and came back with a slight ‘short-Circuit’: while some call it a mere fad, others are doubtful of its consistency, and still others say it’s a way to demean the “real Gandhism”.

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“I am disillusioned and sceptical of this idea of Gandhigiri,’’ said former Lucknow University Vice-Chancellor Roop Rekha Verma, who, though not a Gandhian herself, recenty accompanied a group that raised their voice in a non-violent way.

Verma fears the outcome when people with little agreement with Gandhian ideals take up his ways of protest. “People like Babloo Srivastava adopting the Gandhian ideology will reduce it to a mockery,’’ she said.

But one good thing that has come out of the film’s fever is, “at least people have understood this (non-violence) is also one way to protest.’’

Trade unionist and Leftist leader Suhasini Ali said the political and judicial system’s failure has lured people to Gandhigiri. Going by the failure of the “police or the judiciary, people today do not know where to register their complaints,” Ali said. “So, in their state of desperation, they have found Gandhigiri useful.’’

The common argument is that people have started distributing flowers as an imitation of the film’s hero without grasping implication of the act. ‘’The film must have had some positive impact on the young generation, provided they understood it,’’ said Arundhati Dhuru, herself a Gandhian.

But film producer Sandeep Tiwari said a movie is, at the end of the day, just a movie. Nothing more. “Wearing a Gandhi cap and distributing flowers will not change the society,’’ he said, adding that the society will change “only when the hearts change”. Films do not change a society. “It’s a filmi fever, generating a new fad. Everyone will gradually forget about it.”

Munna Bhai effect: A month’s quota
* LU students distribute flowers to peers while seeking support in protesting the Lyngdoh Commission’s recommendations on cleansing campus politics.
* KGMU students distribute flowers to people visiting the hospital, asking them to plant trees and save the environment.
* Residents of a city locality distribute flowers to a liquor shop owner and ask him to shut the liquor vend near a temple.
* The locals also approach the Additional District Magistrate’s office with flowers and ask him to take necessary steps.
* Kidnapping kingpin Babloo Srivastava distributes flowers at court hearing his case.
* A retired person running pillar to post for pension goes top office, takes off his clothes and requests the clerk to clear

his file.

More Gandhigiri: Eunuchs vow to build nation
TAKING the raging Lage Raho cue, a group of eunuchs from the city today took up ‘Gandhigiri’, paying floral tributes to the Mahatma on Gandhi Jayanti eve and taking a pledge to not “harass” people.

“People are normally scared of us when we visit their homes on special occasions. But we are also part of the society and are eager to make our contribution,” said Payal, who led a group of about a dozen eunuchs to the Gandhi statue at Patel Chowk here on Sunday.

After paying homage to Gandhi, the group took oath to not harass anyone unnecessarily. “We came here to assure people that from now on we will not press anyone for our demands,” Payal said. “We are also human, and we understand that not everyone is capable of giving us what we want.”

About the community’s request to the people, Payal said: “People should not harass and tease us. We respect what we are (and) we should have the freedom to live (the way we live). We are ready to contribute towards nation-building in every possible way.”
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In this school Gandhigiri is not new

CAPPED WITH LOVE: Students say they sing Gandhi's song to spread the message of communal harmony.

Bhopal: It may have taken a Lage Raho Munnabhai for many to rediscover the values that Mahatma Gandhi stood for. But for students and teachers of a school in Madhya Pradesh, Gandhigiri has been a way of life since 1947.

Students of the Government Primary School in Narsinghpur sing Gandhi's chosen bhajan, Raghu Pati Raghav, every day right after they sing the National Anthem.

It's a ritual of sorts, which has been followed since India gained independence.

Students say they sing Gandhi's song to spread the message of communal harmony. They also willingly wear the Gandhi cap.

"We get mental peace after wearing the Gandhi cap. I have been wearing this to school since I got admission," a student, Bijoy Chaudhary said.

This school is also alma mater to all the teachers. They say the message of truth and non-violence forms the crux of whatever they teach their students.

"Gandhi's philosophy of truth and non-violence is a way of life," a teacher, Anirudh Sharma explained.

Lage Raho Munnabhai may have been successful in coining new words like Gandhigiri and adding to the pop trend of Gandhi T-shirts and mugs. But in Narsinghpur's primary school, the Mahatma and his philosophy have always been a way of life.

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After Munnabhai, America takes to 'Gandhigiri'

Peace activists and some US lawmakers used the anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks to drive home Mahatama Gandhi's message of non-violence and urged nations to push for peace and lay down their instruments of war.



On the fifth anniversary of the deadly strikes, law makers, peace activists and members of Congress gathered at the Lincoln Memorial on Monday under the aegis of the M K Gandhi Institute to push for non-violence as an effective weapon of counter-terrorism.

"We have to stop this madness and the only way is to adopt non-violence. Let us follow the path Gandhi showed us 100 years ago," said Arun Gandhi, the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi at a rally at the historic Lincoln Memorial grounds in Washington.

The rally at the historic center also coincided with the Father of the Nation's first non-violence campaign against racial discrimination in South Africa. Democratic lawmaker from the House of Representatives John Lewis took the opportunity to push for non-violence as an instrument and mechanism of foreign policy and called on nations of there world ‘to push for peace and lay down their tools and instruments of violence and war’.

Gandhigiri flavour of the season

Dilip Prabhavalkar, the man who plays Gandhi in Lage Raho Munna Bhai, made a telling demonstration of Gandhigiri in real life by getting a Pune-Mumbai bus operator, who was playing a pirated version of the film, arrested.

Prabhavalkar boarded a Mumbai-bound luxury bus from Pune on Monday afternoon. Soon after the bus left the stand, the TV inside came to life and the credits for Lage Raho... began to roll across the screen. However, nobody in the bus recognised Prabhavalkar , known across the state for his famous Chimanrao series.

Horrified that the pirated version was being aired so blatantly, Prabhavalkar immediately called up the film's director, Raju Hirani, and informed him about the goings-on.

Hirani alerted one Ravi, head of the films anti-piracy cell, who in turn called up the police in Matunga, the area through which the bus was to pass on its way to the final stop, Dadar.

Soon Prabhavalkar called up again to provide the licence number of the bus. Matunga police then dispatched an officer and two constables. Some members of the anti-piracy cell too joined the cops there to keep a watch. When the bus approached Five Gardens, the police team flagged it down on A B Road and got on to it.

The film was already over by then and the TV switched off, so the police questioned Rajesh Shivaji Bhosale, the driver. Bhosale admitted he had the film's pirated CD and handed it over to the cops, who checked it on TV and confiscated it.

A B Deshpande, senior inspector at Matunga police station, said, "The driver was arrested under the Indian Copyright Act." In a way, Gandhiji caught the criminals and in his own manner, without breaking the law, a relieved Hirani told this paper, adding that piracy should be dealt with severely.

Munnabhai changing people in real life

Sometimes a movie can become an instrument of social change.

People are not just watching and forgetting Lage Raho Munnabhai after walking out of the theatres. The movie has been able to make an impact on the psyche of the viewers, at least some of them.




The film’s director Rajkumar Hirani says he is flooded with hundreds of stories from across the country about the way audiences have been reacting after watching the film.

Citing one such story, Hirani says an old couple was about to move into their new house and was thinking of consulting a Vastu expert before shifting. But they dropped the idea after watching ‘Lage Raho Munnabhai’, which rubbishes the beliefs in numerologists and astrologers.

In another incident, a young guy came out of the theatre after watching the movie and after noticing the disposed off tickets strewn all over the place he started picking them up and threw them in a waste basket.

Hirani says he derives maximum satisfaction from these small actions by the people who see the film.

Meanwhile, in Delhi some youths have already adopted the slogan and written on the back of their cars – ‘Gandhigiri wins over Dadagiri’.

From Dadagiri to Gandhigiri, Munnabhai is King!

From Dadagiri to Gandhigiri, Lage Raho Munnabhai tries to be slapstick, a satire, and a love story -- all rolled in one -- but fails in the final analysis. Contrite and contrived, the film lacks the spontaneity and conviction to engage the audience’s mind space.



Sanjay Dutt and Arshad Warsi in 'Lage Raho Munnabhai'
From Dadagiri to Gandhigiri, Lage Raho Munnabhai tries to be slapstick, a satire, and a love story -- all rolled in one -- but fails in the final analysis. Contrite and contrived, the film lacks the spontaneity and conviction to engage the audience’s mind space. Audiences thronged to cinema halls to see the laugh riot of the year but this hyped movie only flatters to deceive.

The actors have come up with strong individual performances but seem to fail as a team. Director Raj Kumar Hirani in concert with Vidhu Vinod Chopra invoke the spirit of Mahatma Gandhi (Dilip Prabhawalkar)and the flick does live up to its promise of taking you down laughter lane. Only the humor lacks spontaneity. Munnabhai and Circuit are at best steady, and second best.


Sanjay Dutt and Vidya Balan in 'Lage Raho Munnabhai'
The racy start shows Munnabhai answering 10 questions on Mahatma Gandhi put out by Radio Jockey Jhanvi (Vidya Balan) with the help of ‘hostage’ professors. The RJ-fixated Munna is deeply in love with Jhanvi and their on-screen chemistry is the highpoint of the film. She invites him to her hilarious ‘Second Innings Home’ to lecture the Senior Citizens on Gandhian values.

The ball is set rolling. The movie becomes a vehicle for jingoistic nationalism and the film-makers try and sell Gandhian values to the conuntry's youth.

In the story, the iconic Munnabhai continues to indulge in dadagiri with his trusted aide Circuit. Builder Lakhbir Singh nee Lucky (Boman Irani) wants to get hold of a bungalow by the sea for his daughter Simran’s (Dia Mirza) wedding gift. The bungalow is leased to Jhanvi’s grandfather and all his senior citizen friends shack up under one roof, to pick up the pieces of their broken lives.


Boman Irani in 'Lage Raho Munnabhai'
Vidya Balan is refreshingly stunning and plays her part to perfection. As for Boman Irani, he seems to grow in stature with the passage of each film.

The refrain of ‘Bande Mein Tha Dum…Vande Matram’ is suggestively used and portrays Gandhian thought in a pop format. And, by using Munna as Gandhi’s unlikely messenger, the film gives a comical perspective of how a ‘tapori’ can make the transition from violence to non-violence. Instead of thrashing people and breaking their bones, Munna mobilizes support from ordinary citizens through his program on radio where he listens to the plight of common folk and gives them unique Gandhian solutions that work. As RJ, Munna does have some great lines and moments, especially when Gandhi speaks in the Mumbai lingo. Quiet like the Rang De Basanti genre, Lage Raho Munnabhai tries to connect with the young audience and tells them about the virtues of freedom and independence, and what it should mean to us.

In the final analysis, Abhishek Bachchan’s cameo fails to steal the show. However, the characters at the old age home are refreshingly candid in their performances. Shantanu Moitra’s music is notable for ‘Bande Mein Tha Dum’, and ‘Pal Pal. It is a movie that is watchable, but one which uses clichés and jingoism to sell the concept of truth -- in a humorous vein.