The second innings of Munna Bhai and Ciruit in 'Lage Raho Munna Bhai' is one cracker of an innings! It's better than the first one, extracts more laughs and punches and the characters have a more humane temperament that explores the other side of 'bhaigiri'. The plot is truly the winning card of the movie, not to discount the effective casting, dialogues that are a mix of funny and introspective, a rib-tickling screenplay, enjoyable situational songs and a first rate direction. Sanjay Dutt as Munna Bhai and Arshad Warsi as Circuit wear their characters as their second skins, more comfortably, more snuggly and are more lovable than their avatars in the earlier Munna Bhai MBBS. Ditto for Boman Irani who dons the role of Lucky Singh, a sardarji builder; a meanie with a heart. Vidya Balan also puts her best foot forward as a radio jockey who makes Dutt's heart goes hmmm... Dia Mirza and Jimmy Shergill justify their cameo appearances. A surprise element during the climax is a thoughtful addition and cheers the audience, specially the female audience threefold. Though the film is not a sequel to Munna Bhai MBBS, Lage Raho Munna Bhai retains the characters of Munna and Circuit in the lead roles and their nontoxic, almost childlike idiosyncrasies. This idea also gives an unlimited scope for possibilities the hit pair of Munna and Circuit can indulge into in future. Lage Raho Munna Bhai is a story about Murli Prasad Sharma aka Munna who meets Mahatma Gandhi and undergoes a heart transformation. For Munna, breaking bones and abducting people at the snap of his fingers was easier than the courage it required to walk on the path of non-violence and truth. Hesitatingly and unwittingly he takes the road less traveled, which is thorny and full of obstacles in return for self revelation and a guilt-free conscience that fears nothing and no-one. The 'Gandhivad' is turned into 'Gandhigiri' by self proclaimed Professor Murli Prasad Sharma for its practical implementation in the present day, without sounding preachy or heavy-duty. There is a similar 'offering the other cheek' when someone slaps you, confessions of truth and also the 'satyagrah' for a bunch of old people who lose their house called 'Second Innings' to the manipulative and greedy Lucky Singh. Sad but true that our nation won freedom but lost its people, Murli tries to revive faith, courage, truth and justice in people from different walks of life. With his new found ideology or the chemical 'locha' in his brain, he triumphs over the cynics or the lost souls and also wins the love of his life. An interesting observation can be made between Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra's 'Rang De Basanti' and Rajkumar Hirani's 'Lage Raho Munna Bhai', the fact that though the theme of both films is more or less the same, the approach to resolving the conflict is in complete contrast with each other, like two ends of the same thread. Yet both films succeed in their own unique ways and deliberate the depths of human emotions and reflections in an identical manner. In the end, hats off to Vidhu Vinod Chopra for producing a film that is a wholesome entertainer and succeeds in giving a heartfelt message in the times where films are made merely to fulfill the whims and fancies of egoistic filmmakers.

-Nidhi Kathuria

"Lage Raho Munna Bhai" is a sequel to "Munna Bhai M.B.B.S." and it's a rare case where I actually prefer the sequel to the original. Part of it might be the lesser use of annoying language like 'bro' and 'dude' but mostly I think it's because the story is a bit deeper and FINALLY Munna Bhai does manage to reform!

Just like in the previous film, Munna Bhai (Sanjay Dutt) is a nice mobster...an odd oxymoron, I know. However, he IS a mobster and uses his best friend, Circuit, to break a few legs and use a few bullets to get Munna's point across to his 'clients'. However, a big change in this installment is that Munna is smitten with a radio talk show host. Although he's never seen her, he's infatuated with her...and is excited when he hears that a contest she is hosting will allow the winner to meet her. But, the quiz is about Gandhi...and dopey Munna knows nothing about the man. So, he and Circuit kidnap some professors and use them to help him win the contest. Not surprisingly, when Munna wins, his lies keep racking up and soon he's talked himself into delivering a lecture on Gandhi to the host's housemates. So, a sociopath is supposed to be talking about Gandhi's non-violent methods....it sounds impossible. But, fortunately, Munna soon gets the help of a friend...the invisible ghost of Gandhi himself!! How will this change Munna for the better? See the film.

I was a bit shocked at the premise of the film, as many hold Gandhi in almost god-like esteem and having him in a comedy seemed odd to say the least. However, the filmmakers did a good job of this and kept infusing Munna with not only the words of Gandhi but his philosophy in order to balance the comedy with drama and poignancy. A thoroughly enjoyable film in every way.

By the way, the small role of Sunny is played by Abhishek Bachchan-- -a mega-star of Indian cinema and I was surprised to see this guy in such a tiny part of the movie.

2006 was a year of sequels,starting with PHP,KRISSH both blockbusters LRMB was a sequel to Munnabhai Mbbs and a surprise blockbuster. In a way it's like a series not continued from part 1 except Munna and Circuit characters. The film which was earlier titled Munnabhai Meets Mahatma Gandhi is superb, it mixes comedy,emotions,drama all superbly. The Munna-Circuit scenes are throughly too good, Munna-Jhanvi(Vidya) romance too is good while Boman Irani's track too is well handled, At times things do get melodramatic,Also the Satyagraha track does seem a bit overdone but yet things are superbly handled, the scenes of Jimmy-Parikshit Sahni and the entire astrology part is superb. The end too is simply hilarious.

Direction is superb by Rajkumar Hirani Music is decent, yet the songs Aane Chaarane,Title song,Pal Pal all are good

Sanjay Dutt is yet again brilliant though looking out of shape, he is the only actor who can play such roles with ease. Arshad Warsi too is born to play Circuit, he is simply brilliant and in fact he is better then his previous act in Munnabhai, in fact he stands tall throughout. Vidya Balan is good, Dilip Prabavhalkar is good as Gandhi Boman Irani is superb though his role comes too close to Khosla Ka Ghosla, Khulbushan Kharbanda,Saurabh Shukla are good Jimmy Shergill is superb,Parikshit Sahni is good too Dia Mirza is superb, rest are all good