Gandhis and Gods in our midst
The new-age writer is smart enough to package his content in such a way that it strikes the right chord with the intended audience.
Ashutosh Nayak
There is a striking commonality between Lage Raho Munna Bhai, which is currently a hit at the box office, and Chetan Bhagat`s widely acclaimed One Night At the Call Centre (ONACC).
Both of them tell the stories of metamorphoses of different individuals through different medium. In the first case, it is an endearing mix of maraa-maari and morality to establish the victory of "good" over "evil". In the second, the "loser" protagonist not only gets to hear his "inner voice" in the long run, but a bunch of young folks get the kick to do what is most unthinkable, probably giving an "ultimate meaning" to their lives.
Yet both of them employ very similar strategies to tell the story, in Lage Raho it`s Gandhi and in ONACC, it`s God.
In Lage Raho, a Gandhi lookalike silently witnesses the revolution in Prof Murali, from his dadagiri to Gandhigiri, and pitches in as a new-age counsellor. In ONACC, it is the God calling Shyam`s mobile even if it is out of coverage area!
In both cases, Prof Murali and the Shyam & Co are in trouble. One to win over his radio jockey dream girl, while the others are trying hard to get out of the pit, literally and figuratively. If Gandhi appearing and disappearing is a cinematic device, taking the help of God in ONACC is supernatural. But both of them seem quite rational for the moment.
Moreover, Rajkumar Hirani makes his Gandhi habituated to hearing "wat laga de", while Bhagat`s God does not hesitate to empower a crestfallen Shyam to make his agenda clear even to kick out his boss Bakshi and get his girlfriend back.
This means, today’s Gandhis and Gods have (to be) changed to cater to the changing generation. For the new-age writer, the message should go in a language that the audience can understand; otherwise commercial cinema, or for that matter any stream of our popular culture, loses its significance.
The bottomline of Lage Raho is a message delivered as it is the case of ONACC. One cannot sell his/her books talking lofty philosophy to 20-something call centre guys. "You need to talk in their language, otherwise it would be a sort of moral policing," says Hyderabad-based communication analyst Chetan Mallik. This shows that the new-age writer is smart enough to package his/her content in such a way that it strikes the right chord with the intended audience/reader, he adds.
Like the God asking "do you know which is the most important call in the world...the inner call", the Gandhi in Lage Raho puts his words through the mouth of the protagonist saying there is no need to install statues of Mahatma if you cannot keep him in your hearts. God`s call of "inner voice" in ONACC is similar to the pills of truth and non-violence offered by Gandhi as the final antidote to all personal and social unrest in Lage Raho.
Like Prof Murali`s obsession with "Go confess" as an instant remedy to all problems, the God in ONACC too spells out a four-point agenda to reach the pinnacle of success__an average intelligence, a little bit of imagination, self-confidence and courage to face failure.
But unlike Lage Raho, where the protagonist is made to stand on the road and get slapped on both his cheeks, in ONACC, the guys have fire in them to take on the whole rotten system on their own. "Few people in this world get to hit the boss, but those who do will tell you it is better than sex," the book sums up.
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