Munna and Circuit are back to make Bollywood great again

Want a pint of nostalgia?

It’s been 14 years since Bollywood found two of its most lovable rascals (after Jai and Veeru) - the iconic duo of Munna Bhai, a kind-hearted goon, and his trusted sidekick, Circuit. For those beating millennial blues, filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani has announced that screenwriter Abhijat Joshi is working on the script for the third instalment of the Munna Bhai series.

After the release of Lage Raho Munnabhai, which dumbed down Gandhian ideologies for the regular Bollywood consumer, Hirani had begun working on the third part of the series - Munnabhai Chale America and even had its teaser out.

But for several reasons, including the film’s lead actor Sanjay Dutt serving a jail term over the possession of arms during the Mumbai blasts, the film had to be shelved.

“I could've taken any of them [ideas] and released another film, knowing people would watch it. But I don't want to make a Munnabhai which is not as good, if not better, than the previous two. I'm going to make just one more after which someone else can take the franchise forward and it has to be equally good", said Hirani in an interview.

The final instalment (yes, this will be the last) will be out by 2018, according to Hirani.

The director's trademark style of making goody-two-shoes heroes look cool is what makes the Munna Bhai series work. All of Hirani’s characters live in a world that is by default PG-13 (not adult, yet not adolescent), full of people who enjoy the Sab TV brand of humour and are idealistic and good-natured to the point of annoyance.

Yet, it is in movies where a goon tries to become a doctor, talks to and follows the spirit of Gandhi, where the most evil of characters is a rule-book obsessed doctor, or a father who wants the best for his daughter, we see a glimmer of hope that seems to have quite vanished from our real lives - caught up with trying to deal with the current social and political environment.

It is a good time to once again see the good in the world - if only through the eyes of Munna bhai and Circuit. If nothing else, Munna Bhai teaches you one important lesson we have all but forgotten: there is nothing that love and laughter cannot cure.

Also read - Sanjay Dutt's release should make patriotic Indians throw up