LOST IN TRANSLATION

Lage Raho Munnabhai serves its purpose well if you see it for what Bollywood films are made i.e., for their entertainment value. However, it would be a pity if after seeing the film youth were to believe that Gandhian methods can bring quick results. In fact, the very emphasis on results is contrary to the true spirit of Gandhian values. As far as Gandhi was concerned, truth and non-violence were worthy ideals to be pursued irrespective of their outcome. One, therefore, hopes that the film would inspire people to look beyond Gandhigiri and delve deeper into Gandhian thought. This gives us an opportunity to examine the word Gandhigiri, which has caught the fancy of many and has been objected to by others. In the film the term has been used for the practice of Gandhian methods. However, strictly speaking, in Hindi the suffix girl has a pejorative connotation. Thus, you have chamchagiri (sycophancy), dadagiri (bullying), uthaigiri (stealing) etc.

To a Hindi-speaking person, therefore, the word Gandhigiri does not sound complimentary to the Mahatma. However, Bollywood Hindi is hardly known for its purity. Its more a khichri, whose main ingredient may be proper Hindi but which is richly flavored with other languages. In Gujarati for instances, the suffix girl is used both in a pejorative and non-pejorative and non-pejorative sense. For example, Gujarati word Kaamgiri simply means work or performance. That the term Gandhigiri has been coined by Abhijat Joshi, the dialogue and screenplay writer of the film who has lived in Ahmedabad, shows that the Gujarati influence has something to do with the coining of the new term. One person who would certainly have been cool to the term Gandhigiri is the Mahatma himself. For, in the very first paragraph of the Hindi translation of his autobiography, My Experiments with Truth, he used the word diwangiri to describe the profession of his ancestors. The word was perfectly in order in the original version of the book, which Gandhi wrote in Gujarati. The word has been retained in the Hindi translation even though its correct rendering in Hindi should have been diwani. That no one has objected to it shows that the translator meant well. And so it seems did Abhijat Joshi.