3 idiots
the hindi movie that is making the rounds these days for both on & off the screen performances is '3 idiots'.
directed by raju hirani, the man who created munnabhai, the film takes on our educational system especially the rote system. apart from casting my favourite khan, aamir, the film has been shot in the campus of iim b, something i am very happy about.
the story apparently is based on chetan bhagat's 5 point someone. now chetan bhagat is not exactly my kind of author, with due respects to him. so i cant vouch for the claims of either chethan or hirani-vinod chopra.
the storyline is pretty simple :
ranchod das shymal das chanchad is aamir khan a brilliant student who believes in education being an 'experience'. he joins ice a prestigious engineering institution and has farhan (portly madhavan) and raju (sharman joshi) as his friends.
rancho takes on chathur ramalingam a student and virus (boman irani) the head of the institution both of whom believe in rote learning.
movie settles down after a series of pranks by aamir & co. all the while aamir also romances pia (kareena kapoor), daughter of virus.
in a prank, rancho causes huge embarassment to virus and chathur in a college day ceremony by changing crucial words of a speech text to be delivered by chathur. (chamatkar to balatkar, for those not knowing hindi, it is equivalent of changing miracle to molestation).
aggrieved chathur challenges rancho to meet him after 10 years to guage who has been more successful in life.
years roll on and now chathur comes back on the appointed day and meets up farhan and raju to show off where he has reached & what he has achieved - big car, house, millions etc...
the movie is told in a combination of forward - flashback mode which is delightful. the movie is mostly told with farhan being the narrator.
actually after college farhan and raju have lost contact with rancho and so, they set off with chathur to find him. they reach shimla and they are shocked to find that javed jaffrey is really ranchod das shymal das chanchad.
it is later revealed that aamir was the son of gardener who worked for javed's father. since javed's father wanted a graduate for his family, the gardner's son aamir is asked to take the place of the family heir and get educated.
after knowing the truth about rancho, the trio set off to visit him at the remote location where he has stationed himself.
back to the college days, the clash between education as exp & rote system widens. it reaches a point where virus challenges that farhan and raju would never be able to land into jobs.
farhan actually doesnt like engineering and wants to be a wild life photographer while raju is eternally short of confidence.
rancho guides them to the point where farhan speaks up to his father and seeks his permission to pursue wild life photography while raju finally shakes off his low confidence and lands into a job.
peeved by this, virus decides to fail raju by setting a tough question paper for the final exams. tipped of this by kareena, rancho breaks into the dean's office and steals the question paper only to be caught.
they are expelled from college. the same day, virus first daughter (kareena's elder sister) goes into labour. it's raining heavily and virus is unable to find transport.
believe it or not, rancho and the college boys guided by pia (a doctor) actually deliver the baby using car batteries and vaccum cleaner.
indebted virus cancels the expulsion.
back to the current, the trio learn that pia is about to get married the same day. so they rush off to her wedding and inform that rancho has been located, she breaks off and joins the team in their mission to find rancho.
and finally rancho is located in a small village where he has created an educational institution which takes off pressure from the students. education is made enjoyable and a worthy experience.
and the final twist in the tale : rancho is actually phunsukh wangdu, the man with 400 patents and the man whom chathur is after to sign up for his company !!!
phew !
the crux of the movie is good but i feel it is an over simplification to suggest that conceptual understanding is not relevant. mugging up and rote is not, i agree but without a formal system of introducing concepts, i wonder how information can be disseminated.
from a cinematic perspective, the film is near perfect though i know that rajeev masand hasnt rated it very highly. i also read a review as to how indian film is still in the clutches of stardom that requires a 44 year old aamir to play half his age.
actually aamir is passable while madhavan is over portly. actually the madhavan of alai paayudhe would have been apt for this movie.
kareena is as usual the cutie pie and is responsible for a few laughs especially the ones about gujarati food - dhokla, fafda.
boman irani as viru sahasrabuddhe (virus) is reduced to being a caricature but yet he does his part well.
chathur ramalingam is a revelation. sharman joshi is tolerable.
songs are top chartbusters - all izz well and zoobi doobi
watch it for some good fun but dont take the film literally or too seriously.
