The three idiots, Rancchoddas Shyamaldas Chanchad (Aamir Khan), Raju Rastogi (Sharman Joshi) and Farhan Qureshi (R Madhavan), are perfect archetypes of the new age Indian who is essentially a non-conformist, questioning outmoded givens, choosing to live life on his own terms and chartering new roads that consciously skirt the rat race. Of course, they begin on the beaten track — due to societal/parental pressure — but refuse to become cogs in the wheel. Naturally, they end up as the Frostian hero (Robert Frost’s Road Not Taken) who made all the difference to his life, and the world, by taking the road less travelled by.
The film begins with the entry of our threesome in the city’s elite engineering college. It takes the first tryst with the mandatory ragging sessions which enunciate who the leader of the gang is going to be: new entrant Baba Rancchoddas, as his friends fondly call him.
Rancho not only leads his friends through the maze of India’s competitive, high-pressure, rote-heavy, illogical and almost cruel education system, he tutors them on several life mantras too. Like, running after excellence, not success; questioning not blindly accepting givens; inventing and experimenting in lieu of copying and cramming; and essentially following your heart’s calling if you truly want to make a difference.
Movie Review of 3 Idiots
The threesome is embroiled, time and again, in a confrontation with authority, as represented through the domineering figure of Viru Sahastrabuddhe (Boman Irani), the unsmiling Principal who venerates the cuckoo because the bird’s life begins with murder. Kill the competition, because there is only one place at the top, believes the Princi. Poor, mistaken Princi! Doesn’t he know that competition is effete, model students like Chatur (Omi) end up as duhs in real life and non-conformists (Rancho and Rocket Singh Inc), who care tuppence about being on top, could end up as eventual winners. More importantly, they could be high not only in IQ (intelligence quotient) but in EQ (emotional quotient) too, never losing their humaneness and social networking skills.
A light heartedness is maintained throughout the picture even while portraying serious issues. Young Raju may be overburdened by his family’s expectations. He has but two friends in his engineering school for a support system. One of them, Rannchhod Chachar, or Rancho, is a natural tech-whiz, and a guiding light of sorts — not just for his friends, but also for the film itself. The other, Farhan, could’ve been a wildlife photographer. An admission into Imperial College of Engineering, or IIT, to be more precise, is for him, like countless others in this country, a ticket to neighbor’s envy, and parent’s pride.
Rancho is the sort of genius this classroom cannot fathom. He plays the fool, but still tops. His friends remain flunkeys. As we all realise later in this film (and in our lives): everyone turns out fine eventually. The skits around the buddies deliver comedy with an urgent message. At some point, Rancho disappears.
The friends, including the love-interest (Kareena Kapoor), set out to figure out who Rancho really was. This is the part where this doesn’t remain a ‘campus flick’ it started out as: with its own rituals of ragging and the cult ‘sutta’ song (one that’s still called for in our cinema).
3 Idiots is worth a watch because of some scenes—and for the friendship that begins abruptly, but keeps growing through the film until a surprise at the end.
