Lage Raho Munna Bhai (; ) is a 2006 Indian Hindi-language satirical comedy drama film written, edited and directed by Rajkumar Hirani, who co-wrote the screenplay with Abhijat Joshi and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. It is the follow-up to the 2003 film Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. with Sanjay Dutt and Arshad Warsi reprising their roles as Munna Bhai, a Mumbai underworld don, and his sidekick, Circuit, respectively. Vidya Balan portrays the female lead, replacing Gracy Singh from the original, while several other actors from the first film, notably Jimmy Sheirgill and Boman Irani, appear in new roles. In Lage Raho Munna Bhai, the eponymous lead character starts to see the spirit of Mahatma Gandhi. Through his interactions with Gandhi, he begins to practice what he refers to as Gandhigiri (a neologism for Gandhism) to help ordinary people solve their problems.
Lage Raho Munna Bhai was released on 1 September 2006, receiving widespread critical acclaim for its direction, story, screenplay, dialogues, performances of the cast, and its social message and themes. The film proved to be a major box-office success, grossing over worldwide and became the third highest grossing film of the year.
At the 54th National Film Awards, Lage Raho Munna Bhai won 4 awards, including Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment and Best Supporting Actor (Dilip Prabhavalkar). At the 52nd Filmfare Awards, the film received 12 nominations, including Best Film, Best Director (Hirani) and Best Actor (Dutt), and won 4 awards, including Best Film (Critics) and Best Comedian (Warsi). Lage Raho Munna Bhai also had a number of prominent screenings. It was the first Hindi film to be shown at the United Nations, and was screened at the Tous Les Cinema du Monde section of the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. The film popularized the term Gandhigiri. Vidhu Vinod Chopra submitted the film as an independent entry for the 2007 Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. It was later remade in Telugu as Shankar Dada Zindabad (2007).
Plot
Murliprasad Sharma alias Munna Bhai, a street-wise Bombay Hindi-speaking gangster in Mumbai, is smitten with the voice of Janvi Sahni, a radio jockey. When she announces a contest on the life and beliefs of Mahatma Gandhi set for 2 October—Gandhi's birthday, with an interview with her as the prize, he is determined to win. Through the assistance of his sidekick Sarkeshwar "Circuit" Sharma, who kidnaps and bribes a group of professors, and his goons, who jam the phone lines, Munna succeeds and meets Janvi in person. During the interview, he lies that he is a history professor specializing in Gandhi and living by his principles. Having difficulty speaking formal Hindi, Munna uses much colloquial language and calls his version of Gandhism "Gandhigiri" (). Despite this, Janvi is impressed asks him to host a lecture on Gandhi in her home, which she has repurposed into a senior citizen community called "Second Innings House". Realizing he can't use his old tricks, Munna crams in a library to study the life and works of Gandhi in five days.
Gandhi, who Munna refers to by his nickname Bapu ("father"), starts to appear at this time and offers help and advice to Munna, who is the only person that can see him. Gandhi continues to appear each time Munna sings Raghupathi Raghava Rajaram (a song often sung in Gandhi's memory). Initially, Munna believes he is going mad, but later comes to get used to Gandhi's presence. With Gandhi's help, Munna delivers a chaotic but well-received lecture about Gandhism being only used in the name and not in practice. He then helps the seniors solve their problems through his connections and rowdyism. Lucky Singh, an unscrupulous businessman who employs Circuit and Munna to conduct "underworld" activities for him, learns that Munna is in love with Janvi and offers to help him propose to her by funding a trip to Goa for all the senior citizens. During the trip, Munna tries to confess his love to Janvi, however, they discover the trip was a ruse for Lucky to occupy the house. It turns out that Lucky's daughter, Simran, is engaged to marry Sunny, the son of Khurana, a powerful businessman. Khurana is superstitious and his activities are controlled by his astrologer, Batuk Maharaj. Maharaj's particular use of numerology led Khurana to add an extra "k" to his name and further convinced him that "Second Innings House" would be the most auspicious place for the new couple to live, hence the seizure. Further, Batuk initially advised Khurana to not go through with the wedding since Simran is a manglik. But Lucky, not wanting to lose such an alliance, covers this up by saying that there is a mistake at the time of Simran's birth and hence the alliance progresses.