The excitment grows as soon as you enter the cinema hall. A sequel to a hugely popular movie like Munnabhai MBBS can have such an effect. You pop the first popcorn in your mouth. You hope this is no disaster. Relax, the movie is entertaining. The jokes are fresh. Vidya Balan is cute (too too cute). And Munna & Circuit are, well, Munna & Circuit. Two hundred odd rupees well spent. Or as Munna & Circuit would put it, "Khel khatam, paisa hajam".

Munna (Sanjay Dutt) is a huge fan of RJ Jhanvi (Vidya Balan), host of a hit show, where she greets her listners with "Good Morrrrrrning Mumbai". To mark Gandhi Jayanti, the station has a contest: Jhanvi will ask questions on Gandhiji's life and the winner will be invited for a chat with Jhanvi. The ever resourceful Circuit kidnaps three history professors to help Munna with this seemingly indomitable task. At the radio station, the next day, Munna blurts out that he's a professor in a college. Unfortunately for Munna, Jhanvi invites him over to give a lecture on Gandhi-giri to a bunch of grand daddies. Even you will break into sweat. But fikar nahin karne ka re... Bapu hai na. Yes, our Munna has a stout ally in Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (Dilip Prabhavalkar) to get him out of this pickle.

So, what happens when Mumbai ka Munna meets Porbandar ka Bapu? You bet it's gonna be chaotic. Munna is scandalised when Bapu advises him to tell Jhanvi the truth. Munna,...

as expected, refuses. The film thereon follows a familiar curve - Munna's life slopes upwards for a while, slumps in between, and eventually hits the right level.

The film essentially relies on Munna and Circuit to keep the audience entertained. And the duo do it with ease. Balan looks gorgeous, but there's more to this lass than looks. And it is disappointing to see so little of her acting skills - the script just doesn't demand anything off her character. Boman Irani is again great as the villian with a good heart. Dilip Prabhavalkar has no role apart from reading out verses from Gandhi's books.

Lage Raho Munnabhai tries to present a user-friendly history lesson to those born amidst malls and multiplexes. The moot question, therefore, is - Is the film trying to give out a message? In my opinion, it is. One cannot refer to incidents from Gandhiji's life and wash hands off the principles he talked about. However, no one can claim to understand Gandhi and his principles entirely. And this film merely skims its surface to entertain the audience.

Still, it's an issue that'll disturb only the odd historian. The rest of us will walk out of the halls with smile on the face, and a bit of Gandhi-giri in our hearts. The illusion will soon fade.