It’s a poignant moment. In 48 hours we’ll know how the cookie crumbles. Will Lage Raho Munnabhai be Sanjay Dutt’s glorious swan song before he goes back in to serve a long jail sentence? Or will the party continue for Rajkumar Hirani’s wholesome blockbuster?

Either way, the winner will clearly be Lage Raho Munnabhai. If the good-hearted hero of the film is convicted in the TADA case against him, the hysteria will be incalculable. Imagine the hero who found Gandhian solutions to resolve common-day issues ranging from superstition to bribery being sentenced for an un-Gandhian charge of violence against the state! If that were to happen, it would be unprecedented in filmland history and will drive tearful and curious hordes to the theatre to watch a tainted hero’s last and biggest blockbuster.

On the other hand, if the TADA verdict allows Sanjay Dutt to breathe a free man, the spotlight will be on the hero who triumphed a trial by fire. Munnabhai will swagger off-screen too, as the large-hearted, nation-loving toughie who faced a legal storm and came up trumps. The two Munnabhais will merge into one seamless entity and emerge to take the film to higher peaks of success.

Either way, victory couldn’t have come to a better film than Hirani’s Lage Raho Munnabhai. Although the low-profile director had steered the first Munnabhai too to success and accolades, Rajkumar Hirani (Raju to friends) did not become a household name overnight. An editor-turned-director like Hrishikesh Mukherjee, the man did not blaze headlines or give sound bytes by the kilo. In short, he did not get drunk — or fat — on success. Since hardly anything is known about this director, here’s a little-known detail: long after Munnabhai MBBS was a resounding hit, Raju stayed on in his old, modest Bandra East apartment while his wife continued with her career as an airlines pilot.

One distinctly remembers a seminar on entertainment last year to which Raju had been invited. The organisers had no clue what he looked like and he was known more as the director of Munnabhai MBBS than by his personal name. And when he was invited, he was keen to be there on the same day as Javed Akhtar because he confessed to being an unabashed fan of the writer! The same evening, Rajkumar Hirani was asked by someone in the audience if he was working on another winner like Munnabhai. Instead of puffing up his chest with pride or crowing about his talents, Raju’s response had been an unbelievable, “Main already bahut dara hua aadmi hoon. Don’t scare me any more!”

All this needs to be told because it was perhaps the straightforwardness of the man behind Lage Raho Munnabhai (LRM) that gave the film its refreshing simplicity. Today, the success of LRM could well be the story of Raju’s own simple but winning ways.

Four years ago, a film called Lagaan had thrown up the rare spectacle where box-office bounty had matched the overwhelming thumbs up from critics. That was one time the audience had cheered a celluloid competition with the same passion that Indians reserve for a live cricket match. LRM is once again repeating that feat with the audience laughing, sobbing and applauding in complete empathy with the on-screen characters.

Four years ago, we had sent Lagaan (unsuccessfully) to the Oscars. Perhaps the rural Indian, pre-Partition setting had an anti-Brit bias to it. But LRM is quintessentially Indian in flavour, yet universal in its spirit. It is ideal Oscar material. And let’s not forget that Gandhi (made by Richard Attenborough) has already been an Oscar favourite in the past!

Just by the way, like those cliché situations where a senior member of a family dies around the same time that a newborn comes in wailing, Hrishikesh Mukherjee who made heartwarming films that were also commercially very successful died two Sundays ago. A simple, straightforward man who never strutted around like a Chopra or a Ghai, I remember coming home one day, many years ago, to find a message that Hrishida had called and to call him back. Like all journalists who’re used to only a litany of complaints from celebrities, I instantly went through the latest issue of the magazine I was then editing, to see what could’ve upset Hrishida. I couldn’t find anything about him in it. When I called him up, he said he had called only to congratulate me for an excellent issue which he had enjoyed reading. It’s an experience that hasn’t been repeated since filmland celebrities do not call to compliment anybody — they’re so busy finding fault with what you do!

Just after Hrishida passed away, LRM has come with comments like, “Hirani’s film is in the Hrishikesh Mukherjee genre of heartwarming cinema”. As one exits, another makes his entry. A poignant moment, indeed.

Bharathi S. Pradhan is managing editor of Movie Mag International