Harish Palaniappan's

I cried laughing and feeling another film inside out.. Lage raho munnai bhai. Quite late, because it was released in october (if I am right).

To just make a tempting rating for the movie, "highly recommended" to anyone who can understand even a little bit of Hindi. In my opinion its by far the best presentation of gandhian values and ideals to an urban society of today.

It changed my views of Mr. Gandhi and his ideals. You could very easily tempt me to lose my temper in arguing against Mr.Gandhi and his values. Yes, against.. i don't believe that gandhian values helps solve any issue. That was till the film started.

Seeing the film I was convinced that I had a wrong understanding of values and philosophies that Mr.Gandhi preached.

> "Stay put and do a silent protest against people's wrong doings.. and things will change",
> "If someone slaps you on one cheek, show the other",
etc.,

I always thought all those statements meant that we should stand idle and silently protest with flags for whatever wrong people do. Or good people should cleanup every dirt others do.. and that cleaning to be done with a smiling face.. what nonsense i used to think.

Though I still hold the belief that non-voilence or protests are not solutions for everything, the movie broke my ignorance of these methods as valuable options. Especially very valuable methods to people who otherwise are suppressed against other methods, due to fear or force.

Also, some widespread issues like spitting/ smoking in public places, corruption in politics or corporates, etc., seem to have no other options to solve them. These issues have been of major concern for years in India. Current methods to eradicate such problems through rules, penalties, publicity, etc., don't seem to create much impact...and only address educated urban youth, a very few of them who misuse their freedom. So we are wasting time and money on other methods. And probably Gandhian methods are solutions.

The one
Why are they called Gandhian values? Is Mr.Gandhi to be credited for directing these new methods and values to us?

Mr.Gandhi had never called these methods as his own, he only preached them sincerely. Mr.Gandhi himself has said that he didn't introduce non-voilence or patience to people as they are methods as old as the largest mountains in the world.

He was one of very few leaders of the world who could get all scrambled people into a collective fold and inspire them across religion, belief and economic barries.

One who could preach complex subjects like non-voilence by being an example himself.

And for that thing he could make a nation-wide impact with his words even in the days when there was hardly two or three newspapers in India, and letters through postal mail was the only form of communication over distances.

Learning about Mr.Gandhi, Sir Albert Einstein once said "The future generation won't believe that such a man ever lived"..

Einstein was very right, I always thought Gandhi and his values were bluffs and that Mr.Gandhi's contribution to India were only being over-hyped.