Lage raho Gandhi

Just yesterday, I came across this very ill-informed critique of the cult movie, Lage Raho Munnabhai and its equally successful prequel, Munnabhai MBBS on a blog. If you ask me, the movie is probably the best thing to happen to the year 2006 after of course the trail-blazing Rang de Basanti. The fiery piece painstakingly argued that the reason why India has lagged behind all these years, politically, economically, and well, socially was precisely because of the very ideals that Gandhi propagated in his lifetime inspiring a whole generation. Gandhigiri, for the writer is a strict no-no in today's day and age of global progress, liberalization, cut-throat competition, and ritual communalization of the society. After all, India was surging ahead and there should not be place for complacency, slackness, and humility when the world was gazing at us with expectant eyes. A neo-liberal critique of a post-modern montage on screen? Perhaps!

Why would anyone want to jeopardise India's bull run by making a retrogade film like Lage Raho...? Let me give you some answers. The film posits truth as a virtue. In a world where a behemoth goes to war with a rather tiny piece of territory on the basis of a heap of sheer lies, truth becomes a rare commodity. The only WMDs in Iraq were the ones dropped with impunity by the Great Devil and his associates. That Bush lied to the world to bomb Iraq is not a secret, nor is the fact that more deaths have occured in that battered country from malnutrition, disease, insurgent and enemy gunfire, and of course torture than all American military casualities ever. So ah, the Americans lied, went to war and killed thousands! So Lage Raho... says 'truth is God'. Gandhi also said the same. What is wrong with that? Could lives in Iraq have been saved if Bush had not lied? Maybe. Trust Bollywood to teach the Amrikans some lessons. Even though we never realise the potential of our own cinema, it could actually give good old Hollywood a run for its money. And in turn drill some sense into the brainless morons who run, or ruin, America.

Back home, hundreds of murder cases pile up in courts. Even as the Jessica Lall and the Priyadarshini Mattoo cases capture eyeballs, the fact that eye-witnesses were bought over to lie in court stares everyone in the face. A recent Tehelka expose relates how Shayan Munshi, Karan Rajput and Shiv Das, all key witnesses to the gruesome murder, were paid hefty sums of money to either shut up or retract statements. In short, they were told to lie...or else! So there! Some semblance of truth could give justice to a dead young woman. But a bag full of untruth is all she has got. Even in death, truth has evaded Jessica. So is Gandhigiri relevant? I guess so.