Movie for the new generation

I watched Lage Raho Munna Bhai last night. After six weeks of the movie hitting movie halls, I finally landed up. I seldom watch Hindi flicks. Most of my hate for them has been fuelled by lack of originality, lack of interesting plots, low on entertainment value. But off late the movies have become more original. Or maybe I have become more tolerant.

I sat there and enjoyed the movie as much as rest of the audience. The movie kept everyone laughing. But when we walked out. There was a moral of the story that everyone took home. For me it was not just a movie with some morals that was doing well. It was also doing well on a couple of more counts.

1. Gandhian Values: till a couple of decades ago, anything movie with gandhain values were always about the freedom struggle. The non-violent fight that brought us independance. Gandhian values were a means to an end. The end of British rule. And that was for the post independence era. To a generation that saw the British in India. To a generation where the expultion of the raj was victory. Then came the new generation. A generation which knows not much about oppression and the troublesome grotesque past. This generation needed new values. New cultural moorings to look back. And the movie just does that.
2. Modernisation of Gandhi: Gandhi is not some figure on a rupee note or the 4th chapter in the history text book. He was a man who lived. The director found an actor who could play the character well, but also gave him some quirky dialogues and added coolness to him. Including calling the Gandhi way of life, Gandhigiri.

Just looking around, I see quite a parallel in Rang De Basanti. The movie made for the youth of today. The movie that talks to the same generation. The movie that spoke about the past, including the the struggle of Bhagat Singh & Co. But used it in a contemporary context. Fantastic use of the past, making it palatable, making it less sobby and delivering strong emotional connects through humour and a well written script.

I am sure this formula works, and I am sure there are many more to come. Cheers to the new bollywood.