@register.inclusion_tag('menu.html', takes_context=True)
def render_menu(context, active):
    nav_menu = [
        dict(caption=_(u'Menu1'), url=reverse('menu1'), name='menu1'),
        dict(caption=_(u'Menu2'), url=reverse('menu2'), name='menu2'),
        dict(caption=_(u'Menu3'), url=reverse('menu3'), name='menu3'),
    ]
    menu = nav_menu
    selected_menu = filter(lambda x: x['name'] == active, menu)
    selected_menu = selected_menu[0] if selected_menu else None
    return {
        'nav_menu': nav_menu,
        'selected_menu': selected_menu,
    }

<ul> 
    {% for menu in nav_menu %}
        <li {% if menu == selected_menu %}class="active"{% endif %}>{{ menu.caption }}</li>
    {% endfor %} 
</ul>

{% render_menu 'menu2' %}

 {%if 'news' in request.path %}class="active"{%endif%}