Sahitya Manthan
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Sahitya Manthan A Peer-Reviewed, Open Access e-journal ISSN: Website: http://www.sahityamanthan.in Year-1, Issue-2, Continuous Issue-2, July-August 2020 __________________________________________________________________ CINEMATIC REPRESENTATION OF GANDHIAN THOUGHTS: GANDHIGIRI IN THE MOVIE LAGE RAHO MUNNA BHAI AND ITS IMPLICATIONS TODAY PRATAP BHARMAL RATAD KSKV KACHCHH UNIVERSITY BHUJ KACHCHH MO. 9773288387 EMAIL: [email protected] Abstract: Indian cinema is nowadays rapidly growing and developing industry by producing more and more movies each year in a number of languages all over India and other countries as well. Movies in this rapidly changing era play an important role in betterment of society to live in. It reflects good thoughts in the lives of people. In this way, the present research paper is about representation of Gandhian thoughts in Indian cinema as whole and Lage Raho Munna Bhai as particular. Gandhiji is known as Mahatma and Bapu. He led India to independence by non-violence and Satyagraha. He taught new ways of living life by using principles of good life to get Swaraja by Ahimsa. Many movies are made on Gandhi so far by tracing the history of independence India. The purpose of the study is to find out Gandhian thoughts in Indian cinema which are still relevant in this fast moving era of science and technology. This paper is an attempt to evaluate the movie in the light of the concept of Gandhigiri which is reflected in the movie Lage Raho Munna Bhai and the implications after the release of the movie also will be take into consideration. To achieve the goal of the study, the research paper will go through the movie Lage Raho Munna Bhai which was released in 2006, produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. The present research paper is an attempt to explore Gandhian thoughts by promoting Indian cinema. In this movie Gandhian thoughts are presented in very good manners. The principles of living a good life and techniques to get independence are vividly represented by the actors of the movie. Therefore, the title of my research paper is given as cinematic representation of Gandhian thoughts in special relevance to Indian movie Lage raho munna Bhai and its implications today. Keywords: Indian cinema, Gandhian thoughts, Swaraja, Ahimsa, Principles, truth, non- violence, Sahitya Manthan A Peer-Reviewed, Open Access e-journal ISSN: Website: http://www.sahityamanthan.in Year-1, Issue-2, Continuous Issue-2, July-August 2020 __________________________________________________________________ Introduction: Gandhiji, was a great leader who led Indian Freedom struggle by satyagraha (peaceful protest) and ahimsa (non-violence). He is known today by various names such as Mahatma, Bapu, etc. in India and all over the world. After 150 years of his death, the scenario of India is totally different now. New inventions in the field of science and technology lead us into the new world. But the principles and beliefs Gandhi used to believe are still useful in the day to day lives of people. In this paper Gandhi‟s thoughts which are reflected in the movie Lage Raho Munna Bhai, will be analyzed to the light of the concept of Gandhigiri and how this affected our society in India and US: implications after releasing the movie also will be evaluated. To achieve the aim of the study, several parameters are set i.e. the concept of Gandhism (Gandhigiri), the principle of truth, the principle of non-violence (ahimsa), peaceful protest (satyagraha), its implications today. He was the man of will power and believed in non-violence and non-resistance. He wanted to free India from the British rule by change in the heart of the oppressors and without any harmful practices. Eventually, he was succeeded in it and India got her independence in 1947 by the leadership of Gandhi. Lage Raho Munna Bhai, a 2006 Bollywood comedy movie directed by Rajkumar Hirani and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. This movie is taken as main source as far as Gandhian thoughts are concerned which are represented in this movie. Munna is main character in the movie starred by Sanjay Dutt. There are other characters as well: Circuit (Arshad Warsi), Bapu (Dilip Prabhavalkar), Jhanvi (Vidya Balan), Luckysingh (Boman Irani) etc. The outline of the story of the movie is goes like this; Munna, an underworld don begins to like a radio jocky girl name Jhanvi. Both these characters are contradictory to each other whether it is their profession or their nature. As represented in the movie Munna has some feeling towards Jhanvi and to talk with her, he illegally wins the contest held by Jhanvi on Air on 2nd of October which is celebrated as Gandhijayanti. Gradually Munna lies to Jhanvi for the sake of her love. At the contest on Gandhi, he pretends be a Professor of History with Gandhi as specialized field. Later he promises to Jhanvi that he would come to deliver a lecture on Gandhi in front of Jhanvi‟s „Second Inning House‟, a house for aged men deserted by their children. And to accomplish this, He goes to Mahatma Gandhi Granthalaya wherein all the books related to Gandhi are available and collects some information related to Gandhi‟s life Sahitya Manthan A Peer-Reviewed, Open Access e-journal ISSN: Website: http://www.sahityamanthan.in Year-1, Issue-2, Continuous Issue-2, July-August 2020 __________________________________________________________________ and thoughts. At this point of time his whole life going to be change soon. He reads books for nearly 3 days. As a result, he becomes a follower of Gandhism. He named it Gandhigiri in his own way which according to him is opposite of Dadagiri. Therefore, as time passes he tries to solve the prevalent questions related to current society i.e. dishonesty, corruption, astrology, horoscopy, protest, falsehood etc. When Luckysigh illegally grabbed Jhanvi‟s house, he protests against Luckysigh in front his house with his fellow members. He named it peaceful protest (satyagraha). At the end of the story all the problems are resolved by the concept of Gandhigiri and Munna. So the main parameters are given below in detail; on which the study is based. The Concept of Gandhism (Gandhigiri): In literal sense, Gandhigiri means Gandhism. The one who follows Gandhian beliefs and thoughts is called Gandhian. Primarily the principles of truth and non-violence are the parts of Gandhian belief system which will be discussed by detailed analysis later. Though Munna is an underworld don, an ardent follower of Gandhigiri. Even he invented the word Gandhigiri. According to him opposite of Dadagiri is Gandhigiri. The definition of Gandhism as Wikipaedia says, Gandhism is a body of ideas that describes the inspiration, vision and the life work of Mohandas Gandhi. It is particularly associated with his contributions to the idea of nonviolent resistance, sometimes also called civil resistance. The two pillars of Gandhism are truth and non-violence. The term Gandhism also encompasses what Gandhi's ideas, words and actions mean to people around the world, and how they used them for guidance in building their own future. Gandhism also permeates into the realm of the individual human being, non-political and non-social. A Gandhian can mean either an individual who follows, or a specific philosophy which is attributed to, Gandhism. (Wikipedia) After reading lots of books based on Gandhi‟s life and beliefs, he immediately became one of followers of his ideology and thoughts. As a result, he became a victim of hallucination. As soon as he started to read books based on Gandhi he begins to see an image of Gandhi in front of him. He lives in an illusion that Gandhi is talking to him and helping out to solve day Sahitya Manthan A Peer-Reviewed, Open Access e-journal ISSN: Website: http://www.sahityamanthan.in Year-1, Issue-2, Continuous Issue-2, July-August 2020 __________________________________________________________________ to day problems prevalent in the society. At the ending part of the movie, one of psychiatrics declares that Gandhi is no longer a living being among the society but in fact Munna sees his image because he has read a lot about him. So in the movie two main characters; Munna or Murali Prasad Sharma and Bapu represented the whole idea about the concept of Gandhigiri. Munna expanded the beliefs and thoughts in the society with the help of Circuit (Sharkeshwar), his sidekick and Jhanvi through radio. There is an incident when Munna and his team go to find a lawyer for the case of Second Inning House, he says about Gandhi and Gandhism. He says to one of lawyers that, I've just met a lawyer. Lawyer asks who? Munna replies a great lawyer. Studied in London, practiced in South Africa. He said stop bully-ing. Start Gandhi...ing. He said, if your enemy swears at you, smile back at him. Listen to Nerdy boy! He also said, if someone hits you on one cheek, offer him the other. This will reduce hatred, and make him respect you! He also said, to win over your enemy, you don't need lawyers. (Scripts.com) At the end of the movie when all the hurdles resolved by the concept of Gandhigiri, Bapu says, “3 bullets cannot kill my beliefs. Times will change, but...my thoughts will keep causing chemical cock-ups in some brains. The choice is yours! Live with my picture....or live by my principles”. (Scripts.com) This is how the basic principles of the Gandhigiri is presented to us in the form of movie are very interesting. The principle of Truth: Truth is one of the principles of Gandhi. He led India‟s freedom fight through non-violence and truth. Of many thoughts represented in the movie Lage Raho Munna Bhai, Truth is among the base principles of the Gandhian Philosophy.