Gandhiism vs. Gandhigiri : the Life and Afterlife of the Mahatma

This paper, which contrasts Rajkumar Hirani's Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006) with Richard Attenborough's Gandhi (1982), is as much a celebration of Bollywood as of Gandhi. It is to the former that the credit for most effectively resurrecting the Mahatma should go, certainly much more so than to Gandhians or academics. For Bollywood literally revives the spirit of Gandhi by showing how irresistibly he continues to haunt India today. Not just in giving us Gandhigiri-a totally new way of doing Gandhi in the world-but in its perceptive representation of the threat that modernity poses to Gandhian thought is Lage Raho Munna Bhai remarkable. What is more, it also draws out the distinction between Gandhi as hallucination and the real afterlife of the Mahatma. The film's enormous popularity at the box office-it grossed close to a billion rupees-is not just an index of its commercial success, but also proof of the responsive chord it struck in Indian audiences. But it is not just the genius and inventiveness of Bollywood cinema that is demonstrated in the film as much as the persistence and potency of Gandhi's own ideas, which have the capacity to adapt themselves to unusual circumstances and times. Both Richard Attenborough's Oscar-winning epic, and Rajkumar Hirani's Lage Raho Munna Bhai show that Gandhi remains as media-savvy after his death as he was during his life. Este artículo, que contrasta dos películas, Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006) de Rajkumar Hirani y Gandhi (1982) de Richard Attenborough, celebra tanto el cine de Bollywood como la figura de Gandhi. El mérito por haber resucitado al Mahatma de una forma muy eficaz debería adjudicarse a la primera de las dos, mucho más que a los expertos de Gandhi o a los académicos. Esto es debido a que Bollywood literalmente reanima el espíritu de Gandhi demostrando cómo la sombra de su persona persiste en la India de hoy. Lage Raho Munna Bhai destaca no solamente porque nos presenta Gandhigiri - una manera totalmente nueva de hacer de Gandhi en el mundo - sino en la representación suspicaz de la amenaza que el pensamiento de Gandhi plantea para la modernidad. Además traza una diferencia entre Gandhi como una alucinación y la existencia del Mahatma después de su muerte. La buena aceptación de la película - las ganancias de los cines ascendieron a casi un billón de rupias - no solamente indica el éxito comercial, sino que pone de manifiesto hasta qué punto caló hondo entre el público indio. Sin embargo, la película no demues