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

I truly believe that if one knows the exact day and time of this death then he/she will be more ready to accept the inevitable. The reason being that what is more fearsome than Death is its uncertainty. Despite all the certainty about our mortality, we are very uncertain, completely clueless about our tryst with the ‘ultimate leveler’ i.e. death. The uncertainty about Death affect in two major ways, firstly, we feel more fear as any moment of our lives can be our last moment. This makes our lives more miserable as we live under constant fear of death. Secondly, this uncertainty makes many of us believe that we have very less time at our hands and thus we strive hard to achieve whatever goals we had set for ourselves. In both the cases we start to value Death more and value Life less. We forget to enjoy our lives fully; we overlook small moments of love, caring and happiness, finer details etc. We start to believe that only big things in life are worth caring for. We forget that smaller moments of happiness are too frequent and important to overlook.

On the other hand if one knows the EXACT time of the Death than he/she will be less afraid of it as then he/she will be certain about his/her stay in this Mortal World. This certainty will lead to better planning and prioritizing the forthcoming life. Apart from this, this certainty will alleviate him/her from the fear of death and will infuse love for life. One will be more worried about how to enjoy the given life fully than to sit back and sulk about the short duration he/she got. Now whatever he/she will do will do fully and completely. For example, now if one decides to pay a visit to one’s parents then he/she will do it complete truthfulness as not only he/she is aware of their ‘TIME’ but also he/she will be completely aware of his/her parents’ ‘TIME’. Similarly every second spent will be a well thought one and thus will be fully enjoyed. Obviously if you choose to read a book just half an hour ago your ‘departure time’ you’ll read that book with utmost sincerity and you’ll relish every word. This knowledge will also make us more giving and caring, as we all will know that no amount of wealth and materialistic possessions will change the FACT. This will enhance our societal orientation as we be listening and helping others better as we know that the other person also has limited time thus if he had come to you then it has to be important (after all he/she is also prioritizing their appointments).

Cynics may argue that this knowledge will lead to apathy and lack of desire to do anything constructive, as everyone will know that nothing can help him from the death. However, their argument is based on behaviour exhibited by those terminally ill persons who know their TIME but what they fail to take in account is that when every one will be knowing their time then it will be a different story altogether. After all today’s terminally ills are a frustrated lot and curse their bad luck for their shortened life and feel that they are the only ones who have to deal with the knowledge of time of their death. However, in my example every one will be in peace with the reality, as every one will be facing the same reality.

Thus in my opinion it is the ‘Knowledge, not Ignorance that is really Blissful’..

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Now about the questions raised by him in his e-mail:

Q1: Why in India Gandhi’s message seems suddenly resonant again?

Mainly because it is First time since independence some Main-Stream Film maker tried to combine the Gandhian philosophy with Entertainment and given the Box-Office success of MunnaBhai’s First movie the sequel was destined to be viewed by many. Apart from that the Success and impact of movie Rang De Basanti among youth also paved the way for taking MunnaBhai Seriously. Apart from it, it is the first time Gandhi is taken out of the Archives and made available to commoner.

The movie offered applied aspect of the Gandhian philosophy in solving very mundane problems of daily life. Otherwise in India Gandhi WAS most discussed but least understood figure. Basically before LRMB (Lage Raho MunnaBhai) a faction of Indian (especially the Congress Party) glorified Gandhi to the extent to a God because they benefited from this as they projected themselves as the true heirs of the Gandhian Ideology (though Gandhi himself would have objected for this) and Other Faction Portrayed Gandhi as the Ultimate Villain as they made him responsible for the untimely death of Bhagat Singh or they blamed him for his helplessness in Stopping the Partition. Thus in a way both separated Gandhi from the Masses but what LRMB did was it returned the Gandhi back to the masses (a place where he truly belongs) and offered them practical Gandhian Advice on various issues.

Apart from this resurrection of Gandhigiri is also a result of prevailing “Anarchy” in India where Corruption and Violence became the norm rather than being exception. Prior to LRMB, Mr. Bacchan as The Young Angry man Tried to solve the mundane problems of “AAM ADMI” through Violence but since last 30 years the commoner had realized that the proposed solution (By Mr. Bacchan) failed to deliver. So in this state Gandhian Ideology offered a “NOVEL” alternative. We can also understand the recent emergence of Gandhigiri in light of the Rise of Middle Class. The Great Indian Middle Class accepted Gandhigiri immediately as it offered them an viable alternative because this class is though unsatisfied with current state of affairs yet have materialistic comforts thus they just can’t adopt the Violent methods as they are “too career oriented” and “too Sophisticated”. So Gandhigiri offered them away to express their anger and dissatisfaction without worrying out the Massive Retaliation by the “Power Centers”.

We can also view the emergence of Gandhigiri after so many years from the angle that it’s only now the Indian Mainstream Cinema is experimenting with the novel storylines (thanks to Multiplex Culture). And it’s only recently when we started to fathom the real potential of Celluloid in influencing the masses. This line of thought further gets vindicated if we see it with the fact that Books Reading as a habit is on decline thus Movies/Television are the only mass medium that have a sincere following.

Q 2. Have you encountered obvious /acts/ of Gandhigiri? Is the movie changing the way younger Indian generations think of the Bapu? Are people talking about him more? How much is, in your terms, the “Gandhi within ourselves” entering conversation and thought these days?

Obviously being the Flavour of the Day, Acts of Gandhigiri are very much common now a day. In Jaipur (Rajasthan, India) Students are giving flowers to the Vice Chancellor, People are going for ‘fast until Death’ so as to make authorities do their job, peaceful Candle Marches are being organized etc. and interestingly many of these acts are resulting into success. People, Students and Mass Media are talking more about Gandhi and discussing more about Gandhi. Even ‘Gandhi-within-oneself’ is being referred more.

Bapu is the latest ‘in-thing’ and the younger generation is changing it’s perception about the Gandhi. Now rather than saying ‘Mazboori ka naam Mahtma Gandhi’ (helplessness thy name Gandhi), kids are singing ‘Bande me tha Dum’ (the Guy had Guts). So in nutshell the scenario is indeed changed. But then comes the ultimate question....

Q 3. Will Gandhigiri last?

Well the answer is both Yes and No. No because the kind of Moral Discipline and Spiritual strength required for Gandhigiri is not common and thus many of us are not fit for following the Gandhian ideology in its pristine purity. Mainly because the New Generation is a follower of path of Least Resistance and their Guiding beacon is Principle of Least Effort that means though we all want improvement but at the same time want it to be done by some one else. That means that the newer generation believes more in ‘passing the Buck’ than ‘Shouldering the Responsibilities’. This attitude gets evident when we see the Voter Turn-Out at general election. Be what ever the reasons but the Indian intelligentsia and the great middle class (which are main engine of change) are shying away from their responsibility.

Apart from this, practicing Gandhigiri comes in direct conflict with two main characteristics of today’s generation. Firstly, today’s generation believes in ‘immediate gratification’ whereas Gandhigiri requires that one should take the ‘rightest’ path may it be the longest one. Not many would love to get their job done in 30 days (though through the proper channel) when all they have to pay few extra Gandhi-Chhap (slang for Rs. 500) to get it done in matter of hours. Generally bribes are decried either by the older people or by those who cannot pay bribes due to resource crunch otherwise it is termed, accepted and offered as ’service Tax’. I don’t want to sound cynical but that’s what is the attitude of younger generation towards normal problems. Secondly, today’s generation lacks Altruistic Attitude, the basic lynchpin of Gandhigiri. Today’s generation is very much preoccupied by Self that they do not have time to think about others. They will protest against bribe but not because they do not like it as a matter of principle but because they think that their protest will ensure that they need not to pay the bribe and thus save the money. I have seen numerous examples where corrupt officer can get away scot-free even after asking for the bribe if he offers to the so-called-idealistic-citizen to do the job without the bribe and ironically the modal-citizen accepts the offer and walks away. A true Gandhian should have refused the bait and should have complained about the official but instead people rationalize their Selfish Act as Honesty by arguing that they got their job done without bribe. But what they forget to take into account that their walking away without lodging the complaint is also a kind of bribe. So in summary, the present breed of Gandhians is more of opportunists rather than true followers.

I still believe that we all have Gandhi in ourselves but most of the time talk and discuss about him to portray ourselves as intellectuals and liberals rather than really identifying and assimilating him in our ‘consciousness-proper’. What is needed more than having the “Gandhi-within-ourselves” entering in our conversation and thought more and more, he should enter in our deeds.

However, it does not mean that current ‘fad’ of Gandhigiri will fade away without making any significant change in the common psyche. LRMB had offered us a fresh outlook and a alternative to our contemporary world-view and some of us will make it their final world view. And to me if LRMB can covert a Single person into a true Gandhian then movie will be successful beyond expectation.

Amen ! ! !