Lage Raho Hirani !!!

In Bollywood, there are some directors who make movies to tell the story they want to tell, while there are others who make movies for money by introducing lavish sets, larger than life portrayals, exuberance and synthetic youthfulness. Also, there exists a third category of directors, who make the kind of movies that they’d be happy to see. One such director, belonging to the third category is Rajkumar Hirani, who created the entire “Munna Bhai” series.

This writer, director and producer from Nagpur is associated with Vinod Chopra Productions and is known for the deft handling of his subject material. He started his career as a film editor and later moved into advertising. He then directed a few ad films and even acted in some (including a fevicol ad). He did brands from “Parachute” to “Vim” to “Dalda” to “Cinthol” for almost 5-6 years. But then he again returned to films and edited films like “Jazbaat” and “Mission Kashmir”.

His first two flicks, “Munnabhai MBBS” and “Lage Raho Munnabhai” scored over other movies because of the crisp and witty dialogues and moreover, both the movies had an important social message that was conveyed beautifully. In “Lage Raho Munnabhai”, he used Mahatma Gandhi, a person who has dominated and loomed so large over the history books, quite sublimely.

In “Lage Raho Munnabhai”, Hirani made sure that his concept of Gandhian principles should not make audience scratch their heads due to boredom and so he transformed it into a term “Gandhigiri” by giving it an entertainment factor. This shows that it’s upto a director to make things work even in adverse circumstances.

As a result of his hard labor and struggle, Hirani has landed himself in the same string of directors who inspire people all over the world due to their sheer knowledge and command over their subjects. An English Language version of his flick “Munna Bhai MBBS” is to be made under the direction of Mira Nair under the tentative title of “Gangsta M.D.” where Chris Tucker has been roped in for the lead. Moreover, Hirani is also working on his third movie of the “Munna Bhai” series titled “Munna Bhai Chale Amerika”.

He is certainly one guy, who can extract wonderful performances from just about everyone as he did in his first two flicks. Lage Raho Raju Bhai….!!!!!