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Psychiatrists praise 'Lage Raho Munnabhai'
15th Oct 2006 14.00 IST
By Agencies

After giving a new lease of life to Gandhian ideals and receiving rave reviews, Bollywood blockbuster Lage Raho Munnabhai has come in for praise from a new group – psychiatrists.

The Sanjay Dutt starrer Vidhu Vinod Chopra production, a sequel to the hilarious Munnabhai MBBS , is not all about adherence to Gandhian principles via 'Gandhigiri', but a movie on mental well being, they say.

The movie portrays a transient mental state in a very positive manner, they feel.

The film contains certain spells of delusions undergone by lead character Munnabhai essayed by Dutt, in which he feels that he is able to see and communicate with Mahatma Gandhi.

This is a typical portrayal of a mental state, according to psychiatrists at Schizophrenia Research Foundation (SCARF) here, which is why the movie was screened in the international film festival on mental health organised by it recently.

"The film is not about mainstream psychiatry. The striking fact is that it depicts psychiatric symptoms in a very positive manner and not as the usual 'sop' story about mentally ill characters," Dr. Mangala, Consultant Psychiatrist at SCARF, said in Chennai.

It shows that a person in a confused state of mind can still be normal, and can be respected as a human being.

'Lage Raho Munnabhai' deals the issue of mental health very sensitively, which is evident from a scene in the movie, wherein a psychiatrist explains the scientifically plausible reasons for Dutt's hallucination, she said.

"Hallucination cannot be termed as formal mental illness. However, it is a mental state caused due to sleeplessness, heightened experience and extreme tension," explains Dr. Dinesh Bhugra, Dean, Royal College of Psychiatry, London.

In 'Lage Raho Munnabhai', Munnabhai avoids sleeping for days together and tries to collect as much information on Gandhiji as possible, under extreme stress, which is a reason for his delusionary state," Bhugra adds.

According to him, such spells of hallucination are very common and more than half in a sample population of 100, are sure to have undergone such spells at some point of time.

"A typical example of hallucination is when people are in love. They always imagine the voice of the person they are in love with," Dr Thara, Director, SCARF, says.

Meanwhile, be its much-hyped Gandhigiri or a refreshing projection of mental health, the movie is a super hit here.

"The theme of the movie has sunk well with audience and has succeeded in generating a curiosity," its distributor in Chennai, Madhav Chabbria of Saraswathi Films, says.

"The movie has done extremely well by remaining in the same theatres in Chennai for seven weeks in a row," he adds.

Gandhigiri, the term referring to the antics of lovable rogue Munnabhai, has created a social wave with Gandhigiri Clubs being set up in some cities to tame reckless drivers and corrupt officials by handing them flowers with a smile just as Munna and his followers do in 'Lage Raho Munnabhai'".

The film, released across the country on September 1, has won applause from movie buffs across the country and abroad.

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