Gandhi’s Revenge

Gandhi’s Revenge

How many times have you said "yes" when you wanted to say "No". And how many times has your momentary weakness turned out to your advantage in retrospect. Well! this was one time when the yes turned out ok for me.

I had booked tickets for Munna Bhai 2 and was all set to watch it on October 2. I was looking forward to a lazy morning and the matinee.

Out of the blue and as is his wont, my friend Seba called to say that he was coming home for lunch. Seba is a teacher and works with children who have special needs. He shuttles between Dubai and UK and visits his hometown (and mine) once every three years, briefly. I didnt have the heart to tell him about my movie plans. 

Seba called at noon. He was, very unlike him, a trifle subdued, . He apologetically said he was not coming for lunch as he had a touch of "Gandhi's revenge'. I smiled and we fixed up to meet the next day.

Munna Bhai 2 was entertaining and hilariously so. Some years back, Ben Kingsley introduced  Gandhi and Gandhism to a few of us. What Rajkumar Hirani (Director) and Abhijaat Joshi (screenplay and dialogue writer) have done is to take Gandhi to the masses. They have done this with aplomb. I read ( in the Hindu Metro plus) that the Prime Minister mentioned Gandhigiri(GG) in his recent speech in South Africa. In Pune, traffic cops welcomed violators with flowers. I am sure many more GG stories will be told and retold for many many more years. 

Our forefathers or mothers were past masters in the subtle messages..The ash on the forehead is to remind us to be humble as one day ( after death) we will become ash ourself. But the message had a daily ritual or religious adherence to it and so was followed. In a large joint family where resouces were scarce, they told the girl making the chutney not to eat or taste the coconut or the chutney . If she did they said it would rain on her wedding day. Which girl would want rain on her wedding day. But the real  reason for not allowing her to taste the chutney was to have enough left for everyone during meal time. But in a pluralistic society such as ours with a huge population subtle messages are the norm and  GG is perhaps the only thing that might  work. I am sure it is not a fad as much as Gandhism in not.

One of these days, perhaps, I shall have the courage to tell the lawyers who have occupied the ground floor in our block to pay maintenance, others of various ilk not to spit on the steps, the drivers and others who urinate in the childrens play space , not to do so– in a GG way. It is not easy.

I am sure the movie will be remade in many languages. What is sad is that Kamalahasan titled his Tamil version of Munna Bhai 1 as Vasool Raja(extortionist). I am not sure if there can be a sequel  as Vasool Raja 2. I fear Kamal missed a trick or two on this. To reach a larger audience in TN, the movie needs to be made in Tamil.

Seba my friend recovered from "Gandhi's Revenge"– a British coinage for Diarrohoea. The British also call this Delhi's Belly.

Meanwhile the creative team of MB is planning a sequel, MB3. I wish them all success.