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Be warned... spoilers may follow!
I just got back from watching Lago Raho, Munnabhai. My opinion: the film was great. Sequels are difficult to do — that's a fact certainly not limited to Indian filmmakers. I don't want to list all the sequels that have gone wrong (hell, I'm sure that, in trying to do so, I'd break some sort of "bandwidth limit"), but I think most people would agree with this claim. That said, Lago Raho, Munnabhai, is one of the handful that not only works, but goes so far as to perhaps supersede the "original." Don't get me wrong: I very much liked Munnabhai M.B.B.S., but I think I can possibly like Lago Raho, Munnabhai even more. Personally hating comparisons and "ranking" beyond a pretty point, I won't pit this film against the first any more.
To get a bit "technical," really, Lago Raho, Munnabhai isn't exactly a "sequel"; it's more like the second installment in a series (as From Russia With Love was to Dr. No). It might even be a bit different from this. For instance, both Boman Irani and Jimmy Shergill are back for Lago Raho, Munnabhai, yet, neither reprises his role from Munnabhai M.B.B.S.. To make people smile every now and then, though, there are ample references to the latter: the memorable laugh of Irani's character's from it is back, this time as a cell-phone ring-tone. The "Munnabhai M.B.B.S. theme" is played frequently enough (yet, not over-bearingly), and one little outburst that Munna has seems to resonate his experiences in the first movie. This film, per se, though, is completely its own. It seems, actually, that great measures have been taken not to fall into the apparent "sequel trap" of just going for the same laughs, same moments, and same sequences as before.
I rather liked the story, as well, as I felt that it was "meaningful" enough to be memorable, yet executed with enough levity and tongue-in-cheek humor not to ever really feel "preachy." As we eventually find out (and this is something I very mcuh appreciated), "Gandhi" is (arguably) simply a figment of Munnabhai's imagination. This very much makes the film and its goings-on more digestable, as any "Gandhi would never have said or done that" reactions are mostly put to rest. This isn't Mahatma Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi; it's Murli Prasad Sharma's (a.k.a. "Munnabhai," for those who haven't even seen the film) interpretation of Gandhi, which he's gotten through several un-named books (which, themselves, must offer only certain aspects of the man). That said, I did somewhat have trouble accepting the "questions" that brought Munnabhai to his (and our) realization: "Who was Gandhi's mother? Who referred to his as 'Mahatma'? What was the name of his ashram in South Africa?" To me, these are questions that Munnabhai should have known the answers to (especially as they must have been based on material he only recently read), jsut as he knew the answers to "who was Gandhi's father," and "what was Gandhi's first name?" They're facts you find in most of the books; so, how would the psychiatrist think to bring them up? It's not a huge issue, but it's something that kind of bothered me.
The performances are just great. Sanjay Dutt is "Munnabhai"; similarly, whether or not Arshad Warsi ever "makes it" as a "bada hero," he should forever be remembered as the endearing, "bad-but-bot-so-bad" tough-guy, "Circuit." I thought Gracy Singh did well in Munnabhai M.B.B.S., but I think I slightly preferred Vidya Balan's work in Lago Raho, Munnabhai (of course, any time you watch something good, you immediately — if only momentarily — lower your esteem for everything else). I preferred Boman Irani's "crazy-ass professor" in the last film to his shady Sardar in this one, but, nonetheless, I liked his performance. Sadly, of course, Sunil Dutt passed away before this project was launched, and thus Munna's parents were left out of the movie.
The songs this time around are great, as well, and though I'm not the type to really care how good the songs are in a film, I have to admit that it's nice not to feel compelled to rush to the bathroom when one comes on.
Another aspect that's worth mentioning is the movie's originality. I had no problems with the first's being "inspired" (partly) by Patch Adams and perhaps even Back To School, but those who did should have no problems watching this one. Lage Raho, Munnabhai is about as refreshingly creative and original as a film gets. (On top of — and more inportant than — that, it says something creative in a truly fun and enjoyable way.)
Altogether, I very much enjoyed Lago Raho, Munnabhai; it's one of the films I'll watch on DVD as soon as it comes out, even after having seen it in the theater.
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and i had to watch aap ki khatir..