Lage Raho Munna Bhai (pronounced [ləˈɡeː rəˈɦoː mʊnːaːˈbʱaːi] ⓘ; translation: Keep Going, Munna Bro) is a 2006 Indian Hindi-language satirical comedy drama film written, edited and directed by Rajkumar Hirani, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Abhijat Joshi, and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra under the banner Vinod Chopra Films.

New additions to the cast include Vidya Balan, Dilip Prabhavalkar and Dia Mirza, while several actors from the original, notably Jimmy Sheirgill and Boman Irani, appear in new roles.

[14] Murliprasad Sharma, alias Munna Bhai is a street-wise gangster, smitten by a radio jockey, Jahnvi, who hosts a morning show.

To impress Jahnvi, Munna poses as a college professor specializing in Gandhism and claims he lives by Gandhi's principles of truth and non-violent resistance.

He starts co-hosting a radio show with Jahnvi, where he solves ordinary listeners' everyday problems with Gandhi principles, with his request that they send Lucky flowers to help him recover from the "disease of dishonesty" in exchange for a unique, non-violent protest.

Elsewhere, on Simran’s wedding day, she learns about her father's deception of Khurana and runs away, ending up in a cab of a taxi driver, Victor D’Souza, who was helped by Munna in his radio show.

A senior couple from the house adopt Circuit and his mannerisms; Victor achieves success and makes his father proud; Simran and Sunny, happily married, have a child; and Khurana fires Batuk and removes the extra “k” from his name, thus denouncing his belief in numerology.

[16][17] In an interview, Hirani admitted that he felt the burden of expectation while writing the screenplay for Lage Raho Munna Bhai, as he had to create "something to match" the first film.

[18] Initially, there was some effort to incorporate scenes or characteristics of the first film into the sequel (such as the idiosyncratic laugh of Asthana, portrayed by Boman Irani in the first installment), but the risks of repetition were consciously averted.

To highlight this fact, Hirani recounted (during an interview) an incident with a chaiwala boy (who brings tea to the crew) during production: The other screenwriter, Abhijat Joshi (who teaches in the department of English at Otterbein College in Westerville, Ohio), stated that he had been conducting extensive research on Gandhi,[20] which inspired producer Chopra to involve Joshi in the creation of the second Munna Bhai screenplay.

[21] In addition, Dutt stated in an interview that he did not read Gandhi's autobiography The Story of My Experiments with Truth as a preparation for Lage Raho Munna Bhai.

[19] The interaction between the central characters of Mahatma Gandhi and Munna Bhai highlights concepts and ideas that draw upon the period of Colonial India and the Indian independence movement.

In the film, Jahnavi and Munna Bhai's non-violent protest against Lucky Singh serves as a metaphor for the Indian independence movement and the battle against the British Raj.

"[32] Amelia Gentleman of New York Times stated in September 2006 that: Mark Sappenfield of The Christian Science Monitor argued in 2006 that the film was appealing because, "Gandhi gets his hands dirty.

[36] In Lucknow, students claimed to have been inspired by Lage Raho Munna Bhai to do volunteer work, planting trees "to conserve nature which is bound to benefit public health.

"[37] Mafia don Babloo Srivastava claimed to have been inspired by Lage Raho Munna Bhai to distribute roses as a "message of love and peace".

[40] In the United States during July 2007, Aman Kapoor, founder of the Immigration Voice forum,[41] initiated a Gandhigiri protest inspired by Lage Raho Munna Bhai.

[42][43] Over a three-day period, hundreds of flower bouquets were sent to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) office by Indians who were legally in the US but caught in a green card backlog.

"[51][52] The Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) noted that, "an evening that had started with massive security arrangements in the sombre UN setting, concluded in a festive atmosphere in the lounge of the UN with diplomats from other tables joining in raising a toast for the film.

"[54] In a speech during his visit to South Africa, Singh said, "I was heartened to see recently that back home in India the most popular movie this festival season is a film about a young man's discovery of the universal and timeless relevance of the Mahatma's message.

"[55] Singh announced the creation of a new Public Services Bill to combat corruption in a press release dated 17 November 2006, and cited Lage Raho Munna Bhai as one of its influences.

"[9] In addition, "the screening of the movie at the festival saw people sitting on the aisles as the theatre was completely packed [...] there was also a big group of French students that clapped till the credits were finished.

[19][34] Subhash K. Jha said that "Munna and Circuit, arguably cinema's most adorable and roguish reformists since Laurel and Hardy go about the business of generating humour out of the pathos of the human condition.

"[67] Nikhat Kazmi of The Times of India observes that "Vidhu Vinod Chopra gives the great Indian family one more let's-go-goodwill-hunting entertainer, even as director Raju Hirani proves that sequels needn't have the been there-done that feel..."[68] Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN gave it 4 out of 5 stars and states: "Like those good old-fashioned Hrishikesh Mukherjee films, it also reinforces the importance of human goodness and basic niceties.

Even if you might argue that some of Gandhi's principles seem outdated today, you cannot help but cheer for Munna and his gang as they achieve the impossible with love and kindness.

"[70] Vinayak Chakravorty of The Hindustan Times gave 4 out of 5 stars stating that it "cleverly works its way around the obvious hurdle that almost all sequels face: The film recreates an original milieu without a hint of the déjà-vu downer.

"[71] Phelim O'Neill of The Guardian gave the film 4 out of 5 stars noting that, "as western romantic comedies become more vapid and even stalkerish, this delivers a credible message of peace, while never forgetting to be magnificent entertainment.

"[72] Shastri Ramachandaran of The Tribune wrote, "True, there have been memorable films on Mahatma Gandhi by distinguished directors, namely Richard Attenborough and Shyam Benegal;one offering a respectful cinematic acquaintance and the other being didactic but inspiring.

Ajit Duara argues in The Hindu that "the accomplished cultural sophistication and political genius of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi has to be dumbed down to the astoundingly moronic levels of Lage Raho Munna Bhai.

"[77] Jug Suraiya of The Times of India wrote that "thanks to Munna Bhai, at best what exists of Gandhism is Gandhigiri, a watered-down, Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People version of the original.