Hi There All Munna Bhai Fans,

Recently, like all of you, I had a great time watching the Unthinkable. Unthinkable? Come on Guys who could have even dared to think that a commercially non-viable idea like Gandhian Philosophy can be so successfully presented and that to in such cool ‘Ekdum Tapori Ishtyle. The movie will definitely achieve its objective. No it is not about earning ‘blockbuster’ status rather the main objective of this movie was to acquaint the generation X with Mahatma and his Weapons.

Last time Munna showed us the power of unconditional love, this time he introduces us to contemporary Gandhian Philosophy. I used the word ‘introduced’ here as most of us know who Gandhi is but are completely unaware of what Gandhi stood for. Amazingly, Munna did it in a cooler and easier style than many of volumes on Gandhian Philosophy can ever do. After all basic of any communication is that sender has to encode the message is in such a style that can be easily comprehended by the receiver.

Nevertheless, here I do not want to discuss the message conveyed in LRMB rather I want to discuss the philosophical underpinnings of the flick. Somehow, this movie had portrayed the various levels of consciousness present in and aspired by our race. If we closely examine then we can delineate four kinds of enlightenment (as exhibited by the various characters of the movie).
Firstly, there is Lucky Singh who is greedy, self-obsessed, insecure and wants to associate himself with all the big shots so as to gain superficial respect and false sense of security. Therefore, in a way he is like most of us, like all of us he wants to obtain as much wealth as possible and believes that material comforts are far more desirable than spiritual enlightenment and value based life. He like most of us believes that happiness can be brought through money and this gets manifested when he wants to grab the ‘Second Innings House’ for gifting it to his daughter and believes that this action of him will ensure happiness to his daughter. However, what he overlooks that true happiness can be achieved only through selflessness and truth.

On second level of consciousness, we have Circuit, the sidekick of Munna. However, he is not as enlightened as Gandhi is but still is on higher plane than rest of us. He exhibits the qualities of true ‘bhakta’. He is having unflinching faith on his superior (read Munna) and though at times seems ‘irrational’ but he is ‘Non-Rational’ in his attitude. After all, faith is not related with absence of reason and logic rather it is willful suspension of logic and reason towards specific entity. We can feel his unconditional and complete self-surrenderence in those scenes when he obeys the Munna without even giving a second thought. Like all of us, he gets hurt when Munna slaps him as we all become angry with God for unreasonable sufferings. But being true to his God, Circuit never doubts the ultimate goodness of Munna and that’s what makes him different from rest of us. He is ‘Nishkama Karmayogi’ as he never has any attachment with the fruits of his actions done in obedience of Munna. Similarly he loves his material possessions (you can never see him without his much favorite gold chains) but he can renounce them easily and without any second thoughts, if so asked by Munna (as he unquestionably follows Munna when he decides to go back to his village). Thus, Circuit exhibits another important characteristic of ‘Bhakta’ that is ‘Nirliptata’. On similar lines, he is not afraid to go on to completely unknown paths if so asked by Munna. His complete devotion can be seen when he readily accepts to go with Munna to the village even though he does not know how to plough.

On third level of consciousness, we have Munna himself. He is pure at heart, ready to take initiative and above all does not have any discrepancies between his intentions and actions. He stands out as a person who is truly ready to attain the ultimate knowledge. He has a split in his consciousness. One part of his consciousness is practical and mundane whereas another part is very pure (completely untouched by the worldly evils). Somehow, Munna is what Gandhi used to be in his formative years. Like young Gandhi, he has worldly attachments also but has an inbuilt Moral Guard. Therefore, like young Gandhi he has all the Software and Hardware necessary for the ‘ultimate upgradation’. Like Gandhi, he realizes that he does have a higher consciousness (about which he was earlier ignorant). Moreover, like Gandhi this self-realization is triggered by a simple event. So throwing out of compartment was the trigger for Gandhi whereas to save face in front of his beloved was the trigger for Munna.

On the highest level of consciousness, we have the master himself that is Gandhi. He is best of human race as he is completely devoid of all animalistic qualities and has all the goodness of humanity i.e. love, forgiveness and courage. He shares the same platform with Christ and Buddha. Nevertheless, to be him requires immense moral and spiritual strength and that is not that easily achievable. Thus for us, the lesser mortals, Munna remains the model to emulate because he has best of both worlds. He is this worldly but still devoid of evils of contemporary world. He comes from a despised profession yet he holds his head high. He genuinely accepts what he really is yet he has an unconscious desire to become some better.

Like all of us he also refutes the very existence of his higher consciousness and feels threatened when he first encounters Gandhi in himself. However, when Munna is tested against the moral dilemmas he starts to accept his higher consciousness because the solutions proposed by the-Gandhi-in-him though seems impractical on their face value yet in end comes out as really right decisions. Gandhi-in-Munna keeps on guiding him until the time he becomes ready for the ‘Final Push’. Gandhi-in-Munna leaves Munna alone when masses confront him about his faith in higher ideals. By this act, Gandhi-in-Munna liberates him, liberates him Gandhian philosophy and liberates him from the ‘follower mentality’. It is the same thing is done by a mother when she leaves the hand of her child after knowing that child is ready to ‘walk’ on his own. Though she knows that child may take a nasty fall in the very beginning but she also knows that only this way the child will learn to walk his own.

Same thing happens to Munna when he really becomes Gandhi himself and his lesser consciousness gets assimilated into his higher consciousness.

So what is the moral of the story? Morals of the stories are many. Firstly, there is difference between Pleasure and Happiness and Ultimate goal should be attain state of true happiness. Secondly, Life will be blissful if one can learn the art of complete devotion and unflinching faith. Thirdly, Bigger things may get started from Small things thus never underestimate any event. And Lastly, Starts to listen the Gandhi in Ourselves because only then we can have a really truly beautiful Life...

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Vipul Ujwal