/> Director Raj Kumar Hirani is already planning a third film.

"Yes it's true. As soon as we saw the final print of Lage Raho Munnabhai my writer Abhijat Josh and I hit on the idea of the next Munnabhai film. Sanju (Dutt) has been after me to do a Munnabhai film where I take Munna and Curcuit go to America.

Once I had seen Sanju and Arshad in a golf cart in the US. They looked damn funny. These two guys, both bhais, being transported from one location to another in a golf cart. That's when I joked to Sanju, what if we send Munnabhai to America ? It started as a joke. But now it's gotten serious."

But first a break from Munnabhai. "There's another script set in a college. It's a light-hearted look at the educational system, on how education kills creativity. It's a very different world. That's what I'll make before the next Munnabhai."

Now that the shelf-life of Munnabhai has gone so far Hirani is no more apprehensive. "Even the sequel is a film I'm proud of. Lage Raho...Munnabhai. I love that title. We thought of other options, did a survey.

We made an A.D stand on Linking Road and ask every passerby which title they like Mahatma Versus Munnabhai or Lage Raho.... 87 percent of the people opted for the latter."

Hirani ponders. "After scripting filming and editing you lose objectivity. But now when I see Lage Raho...Munnabhai I'm very proud of it. I think it has gone beyond Munnabhai MBBS. This time we had the resources. All the actors were totally with the project.

During the first Munnabhai... Sanju was doing other projects. This time the actors and the production values are all in place, all giving all of themselves to the project. I also feel the content is far richer this time. We've touched it on larger issues.

It touches in the theme of Gandhism.The film says Gandhi's ideals can still work and it's a better way of life. Last time Munna said doctors need to heal themselves. This time he says Gandhism is still relevant. But there's no preaching. "

There were similarities between Munnabhai MBBS and the Robin Williams starrer Patch Adams. Hirani protests, "Not knowingly. But I had seen Patch Adams. In Lage Raho...Munnabhai we had no reference points to any film from any part of the world.

This film was difficult to write. Every time I wrote a joke or a gag, I'd immediately compare it with the last film. But everyone feels Lage Raho... is a better than the first film."

It's raining comedies in Bollywood. "I know, herd mentality," remarks Hirani. "When two years ago I made Munnabhai MBBS everyone warned me that comedies don't work. Now they say only comedies work. But why call Munnabhai a comedy?

I never thought of it that way. The characters are light. But the issues tackled in both films are very serious. When we were digging out stand-out lines for the promos of Munnabhai MBBS we could only come up with two dialogues.

Even in Lage Raho... the humour is in the situational. Lage Raho...Munnabhai isn't a slapstick or gag-driven comedy. It's difference from other comedies."

Hirani sighs, "Thank God sequels work again, though that never bothered me. A good film works regardless from where it comes. It's strange before the success of Phir Hera Pheri, Krissh and Lage Raho... people believed sequels don't work. Now I'm sure there will be lots more sequels."