MEET THE GANDHI OF SHANKARDADA ZINDABAD, WHO TURNS CHIRANJEEVI FROM A GOON TO A GANDHIAN

He was a relatively unknown actor till a couple of years back. But he has given a new definition and a new face to Gandhism in India. The revolution he spawned is so huge that even after a year of the release of Lage Raho Munnabhai, people can't stop preaching the neo-Gandhian's philosophy. That is Dilip Prabhavalkar, who brought about a transformation not only in Sanjay Dutt, but also the very face of protest in India, with his non-violent chat with Munnabhai.

After the release of the film, in many places, especially in the cities, people have started following his philosophy to bring about awareness about the civic responsibility among citizens. And he will soon be seen as the same Gandhi or Bapuji in Shankardada Zindabad.

"Bapu's make-up took more than three hours. I had to have artificial ears, nose, wrinkles, moustache. I am not dark. I am quite fair, so we had to have a tanned look. I had to shave off the hair on my head completely," he says.

What did playing Gandhi's role teach him? "I am very cool by temperament. By playing Bapu, I have imbibed compassion, empathy and benevolence," says the 60-year-old theatre artiste in Marathi.

Was he not scared of playing the role of Gandhi, especially after the world found the best Gandhi in Ben Kinsley? "I was given some tapes and cassettes by Raj Kumar Hirani, the director of the film. I also saw some old Films Division documentaries. Through the films, I realised that Gandhiji used to speak in a monotonous fashion. That is where we took liberties. If we had projected him speaking that way, many could have lost interest. It would have been authentic without being effective. So we changed the tone a little bit."

Prabhavalkar did not stop with watching films, he started reading a la Sanjay Dutt, everythign about Gandhi that he could lay his hands on. "I was greatly helped by a book by an American journalist, Louis Fisher, who called him a saint. This book was like the Bible, the Gita and the Quran for the role."

WILL SHANKARDADA DO A SIVAJI? EXPECTATIONS SOAR FOR SHANKARDADA ZINDABAD

With the super success of Rajnikanth's film, Sivaji: The Boss, all eyes are on Shankardada Zindabad, in which Chiranjeevi plays a 'goon-turned-Gandhian'. Chiranjeevi, we hear, is taking all possible efforts to ensure that there are no flaws in the film, technical or otherwise. And he has been monitoring every shot and scene of the film, especially after the not-so-impressive showing of Shankardada MBBS.

Though Munnabhai MBBS was a roaring hit in Bollywood and touched the heartstrings of the people in India, director Jayanth quite couldn't catch the pulse of the film, and the result was that Shankardada MBBS, which would have been a chartbuster for Chiranjeevi couldn't fare as expected. Predictably, Jayanth was blamed for the film's poor showing, and Prabhu Deva roped in to direct the sequel.

But, more than Shankardada MBBS, Shankardada Zindabad needs a very sensitive handling of the film, which is why the filmmakers wanted to retain the entire cast from the Hindi version. But except for Dilip Prabhavalkar, who played Gandhi, the others were not too willing to act in a remake. So, out go Vidya Balan, who was the lynchpin of the entire film after Gandhi, Dia Mirza and Boman Irani. Of course, Srikanth, who played Arshad Warsi, was the favourite of Shankardada MBBS, and the audiences are looking forward to see how he fares in the sequel. One thing we can expect, however, from Prabhu Deva is the technical finesse and the amazing choreography, two things that are vital in a Chiranjeevi film today. Because if the songs catch on, it is half the victory. And, even if they manage to capture 50 per cent of the essence of Lago Rahe Munnabhai, the filmmakers would go laughing all the way to the bank.

Right now, the songs are being picturised on Chiranjeevi and Karishma Kotak in the picturesque locales of Australia. Except for that everything is complete. And the film is sceheduled for release in exactly a month from now -- on July 24.